CONTEMPORARY ARTS
CINEMA
The Heart of the Matter (Carlton.)— Personal Affair (Leicester Square.) GRAHAM GREENE'S novel The Heart of the Matter has been adapted for the screen by Lesley Storm with singular success. Although the religious aspects of the story may, to the non-Catholic, remain am- biguous, they invite from all tolerant people a sympathetic hearing if an imperfect understanding. The problems of faith are presented objectively without undue ex- planation or argument—which is possibly why they are so mystifying.
Trevor Howard has never been and could never be better than he is here as the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Sierra Leone, a sensitive man whose only desire is that no one he loves should be hurt, and who, find- ing he cannot bring himself to fail either his wife or his mistress by leaving one for the other, commits the greatest sin of all, in his eyes, suicide. His performance throughout is magnificent, a masterpiece of perception painted in the subtlest shades, the gradual deterioration of his peace of mind shown by eye and muscle and even his back as much as by word of mouth. Above all one senses the man's innate goodness and the weakness which is so often the consort of an over- kind heart ; so that one longs to help him while knowing he is beyond human aid. No practical help can cure his obsessive belief in his sinfulness ; his unselfishness is a form of egoism nothing can move.
In the aching heat, amid tropical sights and sounds admirably trapped on the screen by George More O'Ferrall who has directed this picture with the thermometer, the drum beat and the native song as febrile assistants to his considerable talents, Mr. Howard's tragedy unfolds slowly but irrevocably, aided by Elizabeth Allan, who is excellent as his neurotic wife, Maria Schell, who gives a touching performance as his mistress, George Coulouris, Gerard Oury, Denholm Elliott and a number of other fine actors who seem made for their parts. There remains the heart of the matter, the philo- sophy which, though incomprehensible to some, irritating to others, has the virtue of being controversial and thus adds to this fine film an extra intensity.
• It is curious that Lesley Storm's adapta- tion of her_own play into a film, Personal Affair, should be a failure. As a play this story of a schoolgirl's crush on her Latin master, her disappearance with its dire implications, the mischief done by slander- ous tongues and so on was quite convincing, but as a film it has become foolishly implaus- ible. It is strange how the footlights compel a credulity which the camera denies. On the stage there seemed good reason, but now none why Leo Genn, whose wife, played by Gene Tierney, has just accused Glynis Johns of being in love with her husband, should not rush out into the night after the unhappy girl in order to comfort her in an adult avuncular fashion, but from this one normal action, an action which would be under- stood by any sane wife, an emotional storm is brewed. Most dramatic pieces are built on misunderstandings, but this particular confusion, which a man of renowned integrity and a woman who has never had cause to doubt him could solve in five minutes, merely inspires irritation. True, the girl vanishes and a particularly apop- lectic weir is shown- us time and again to promote despondency and alarm, yet one feels the whole thing is contrived, unreal, and all that anyone needs to settle matters is a good slap. Acting in such circum- stances is difficult, and only Walter Fitz- grald is infallible. Pamela Brown battles nobly with her sex-starved spinster, Megs Jenkins with her drugged and weeping mother wandering about in a dressing-gown, and Glynis Johns with a horrid wig. Mr. Genn and Miss Tierney are as good as they are allowed to be. Handicapped by the script and Anthony Pelissier's fussy direc- tion which allows for no settling down to a part, they strive to build the desired moun- tains out of molehills and only rarely succeed.
VIRGINIA GRAHAM
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