Tonight's Movie: The Interrupted Journey (1949) - A Kino Lorber DVD Review

Kino Lorber has just released the five-film British Noir II collection. This DVD set is a sequel to Kino Lorber's first British Noir set, which was released in 2015.

The titles in the new set, in chronological order, are: THE INTERRUPTED JOURNEY (1949); COSH BOY (1953), also known by the title THE SLASHER; TIME IS MY ENEMY (1954); TIME LOCK (1957); and THE VICIOUS CIRCLE (1957), also known as THE CIRCLE.

THE INTERRUPTED JOURNEY stars a pair of appealing leads, Richard Todd and Valerie Hobson.

Todd plays John North, a struggling writer who as the movie opens is running off by train with his mistress Susan (Christine Norden). However, rather than being thrilled, John is wracked with guilt at leaving behind his wife Carol (Hobson). John eventually works himself into such a state that when the train nears his home, he suddenly pulls the emergency cord and hops off the train as it stops, running home for a happy reunion with his wife.

John and Carol's reunion is cut short by the sound of a horrific crash, as another train plows into the train still stopped on the tracks. The couple run to help, but John is horrified to see Susan's body in the wreckage and later has nightmares that he caused the crash by pulling the cord which stopped the train.

John eventually comes clean to Carol about having been on the train and changing his mind, and the couple recommit to their marriage. They are further relieved to learn John didn't actually cause the wreck. But then something far worse happens -- it transpires that Susan died before the crash...murdered. And the police identify John as the likely suspect.

THE INTERRUPTED JOURNEY is a cautionary tale in the manner of THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW (1944), with a dash of the mental trauma from SPELLBOUND (1945) on the side. The moral of the story: Never, ever cheat on your wife, or Very, Very Bad Things Will Happen!

I don't think the reference to THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW is overly spoilerish, as THE INTERRUPTED JOURNEY telegraphs quite early on that all is not as it first seems. The viewer watches with suspicion as the film becomes increasingly nightmarish and exaggerated; some of the scenes near the end called to mind the Dali-esque nightmares of SPELLBOUND. Most viewers will probably figure out the ending far in advance; some will greet the resolution of John's predicament with relief (I did), while others may feel cheated.

I like Todd, and while his character here isn't always admirable, I nonetheless enjoyed watching him. He's particularly effective in the scenes where his love for Hobson's character is rekindled. This is perhaps a good spot to enthusiastically recommend his early '50s films for Disney, including THE SWORD AND THE ROSE (1953) and ROB ROY: THE HIGHLAND ROGUE (1953), which both costarred Glynis Johns.

Hobson is charming as the devoted wife trying to hang on to her marriage. I especially enjoyed her repartee with the Inspector (Ralph Truman). Hobson's best-known roles include the adult Estella in GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1946) and KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949). She retired from the screen in 1954 when she married British politician John Profumo, would later be involved in a great scandal, leaving Hobson in a marital situation not too dissimilar from this film; she and and Profumo remained married until her passing in 1998.

THE INTERRUPTED JOURNEY runs 77 minutes. It was directed by Daniel Birt. The black and white cinematography was by Erwin Hillier.

The print has some minor yet noticeable flaws, particularly in the early going, but is entirely watchable. I do wish the film had been subtitled, as occasionally British accents can be a challenge to understand, but this is a fairly "bare bones" set in the manner of Warner Archive DVDs, with the main purpose being to make the movies accessible to the public.

The disc includes trailers for three additional British films available from Kino Lorber.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this DVD.