Directed by John Brahm
Screenplay by Barré Lyndon* from a novel by Patrick Hamilton
Starring Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell, George Sanders, Alan Napier, Faye Marlow
IMDB Entry
Laird Creger was one of the great losses to the cinema of the 1940s. He was a charismatic actor, and a strong cinema presence. But his performances showed a lot of promise before he died at age 31. Hangover Square is one that shows how good he was.
It starts out strongly: we see a shopkeeper being murdered and his shop set on fire. The killer's face is not seen, but we show George Harvey Bone (Laird Cregar) stumbling through the streets. Bone is a composer and we learn that he suffers from blackouts where he cannot remember what has happened. His fiancée, Barbara Chapman, learns his situation and takes him to a police psychologist, Dr. Alan Middleton (George Sanders). Middleton investigates and sees no evidence Bone killed the shopkeeper and suggests take a break to relax, and he ends up going to a nightclub where he spots Netta Longdon (Linda Darnell), who convinces him to write songs for her. He falls for her, but one day realizes he's being used. And the blackouts start again.
Cregar puts on a fine performance. He's not a villain, and doesn't realize he's done anything wrong, since he remembers nothing about it. He's a tortured man who can't find peace and is especially good when he starts to go mad.
Sanders is his usual urbane self as he begins to suspect the truth. Linda Darnell makes a great femme fatale.
Modern fans can spot Alan Napier (Alfred from the Batman TV show) as Bone's future father-in-law.
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*An obvious pseudonym. He won an Oscar for the screenplay of War of theWorlds.
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