THE MAN UPSTAIRS

 

The final film that I will be covering in Kino's BRIT NOIR COLLECTION III Blu-ray set is THE MAN UPSTAIRS, a 1958 film released by British Lion. 

The entire story of THE MAN UPSTAIRS takes place in a dingy apartment building. The man of the title is played by Richard Attenborough, who one cold night goes out of his way to annoy nearly everyone else in the building he is staying at, causing one of the tenants to call the police. When the police arrive, the situation takes a turn for the worse. The mysterious man (who goes by the name of Wilson) barricades himself in his upstairs room, while various authorities and the other tenants debate how to deal with him.

One would expect THE MAN UPSTAIRS to be all about Attenborough's character and his problems, but he doesn't have as much screen time as one would think. Much of the story is devoted to how numerous officials react to the situation, and how the other tenants feel about Wilson in the context of their own lives. The other tenants are a bickering lot, and they become so annoying that one wonders if they are the ones who have driven Attenborough over the brink. 

The movie tries hard to create sympathy for Attenborough's character and his plight, but it doesn't give the viewer much to go on. Attenborough is edgy, nervy, and temperamental, and eventually we learn he was somehow involved in some sort of accident which caused the death of his fiancee's brother, but this incident isn't established enough. The result is that while watching this movie I kept thinking "Is someone finally going to go up there and deal with this guy??" (I kept expecting a flashback explaining what set off Attenborough, or at least one showing what his character was like when he was "normal", but it never comes.) 

The supporting cast does what they can with some very one-note roles. Bernard Lee is a tough police inspector who just wants to go up and end the situation once and for all (and I can't say I blame him), while Donald Houston is a welfare officer who bends over backward to try and help Attenborough. Patricia Jessel (from CITY OF THE DEAD) is the building's brash landlady, while Kenneth Griffith is a milquetoast tenant and a young Edward Judd plays a constable. 

THE MAN UPSTAIRS was directed by Don Chaffey, who is best known now for helming such colorful fantasy adventures as JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS and ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. Those movies are about as far away from THE MAN UPSTAIRS as you can get. THE MAN UPSTAIRS is in black & white, very talky, and very claustrophobic. Chaffey and cinematographer Gerald Gibbs do throw in a few unusual shots here and there, and the pace does go up a bit as the story goes along....but just when it seems things are coming to a boil we get another sequence where various people stand around and debate what to do. THE MAN UPSTAIRS might have been better if the focus was squarely on Attenborough and the viewer had more info and insight into his character. 

As in the other BRIT NOIR COLLECTION sets, the visual and audio quality in the third one is excellent. Once again new audio commentaries are provided for each film. In my opinion PAYROLL is the best movie in the third set......and yes, Kino has a BRIT NOIR COLLECTION IV set coming soon.