November 1, 2023

I suppose this scenario must have played out in quite a few households across the country after the end of WWII. “Roger” (Don Stannard) returns home to his loving wife “Aileen” (Terry Randall) and pretty much instantly struggles to settle down into his new, rather pedestrian, existence. They have very little money and he sees his wife (innocently) associating with friends like “Henry” (Ellis Irving) who can give her so much more than he can. It’s… read the rest.

I suppose this scenario must have played out in quite a few households across the country after the end of WWII. “Roger” (Don Stannard) returns home to his loving wife “Aileen” (Terry Randall) and pretty much instantly struggles to settle down into his new, rather pedestrian, existence. They have very little money and he sees his wife (innocently) associating with friends like “Henry” (Ellis Irving) who can give her so much more than he can. It’s this frustration that leads him to abscond - but a chance meeting with his supposed foe might just help him get his priorities straight. It’s a very gently paced, rather contrived, story this with far too much dialogue: if she called him ‘darling’ one more time… and frankly it really struggles to sustain ninety-odd minutes. Indeed the last fifteen of those is set at a concert and luckily the fine dulcets of a Welsh choir and soloist John McHugh keep our attention while the melodrama reaches it’s all-too predicable conclusion. It was made immediately after the end of the war, when sentiment would have been very deep and perhaps that gave it an added resonance at the time. Now, though, it’s all rather weak and unremarkably performed by two stars who don’t really shine.

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