Sammy Rice (David Farrar) is part of a British research team in World War II. His boss Professor Mair (Milton Rosmer) designs a defective anti-tank gun, but Rice is more concerned with German anti-personnel bombs killing civilians throughout Britain. With his aide Captain Stewart (Michael Gough) Rice tries to learn about these explosives, but his superiors hamstring his work. His relationship with girlfriend Susan (Kathleen Byron) suffers as Rice spirals into alcoholism and drug addiction, caused in part by a missing foot. Rice faces his final challenge when more explosives turn up at Chesil Beach.
Aside from the conventional epic The Battle of the River Plate, the Archers eschewed flag-waving and battlefield heroics in their war movies. They're always more concerned with its effects on people, turning friends into enemies, separating lovers and sublimating individuals to ideology. But it can also forge camaraderie, tolerance and national pride. This humanism engendered a series of warmhearted classics: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, A Canterbury Tale, and their masterpiece A Matter of Life and Death.
Based on Nigel Balchin's novel, The Small Back Room is a much darker film. P&P's show of international cooperation becomes a running gag, with pubs and offices crawling with foreign servicemen. The Germans become an "ungentlemanly" foe killing children with trick bombs, while the War Office is staffed with idiots like the Minister (Robert Morley) who's baffled by a calculator. The Archers show commendable versatility, adopting darker tones without losing their human touch.
Room works best as a character study. Rice proves a tormented protagonist, mentally and physically scarred, drug-addicted and unable to utilize his talents. His unconventional methods annoy his superiors, while his demons alienate Susan. He can't sublimate himself to the war effort, chafing at bureaucratic idiocy and taking losses personally. There's always a government phone call to intrude on his private life, whether interrupting a liaison with Susan or rousing him from a drinking session. He's forced to prove himself by defusing a bomb of the sort that killed his colleague.
Powell & Pressburger also savage wartime bureaucracy. Soldiers must make way for bureaucrats and scientists, represented by glad-handing R.B. Waring (Jack Hawkins), who treats war like a sales pitch. This lot views prestige and money preferable to results, scoffing at Rice's disagreeable "figures" about their cannon. These scenes play as comedy, which makes their deadly consequences more jarring: Rice's tin foot, the one-eyed Colonel Holland (Leslie Banks), a young soldier (Bryan Forbes) maimed by a booby trap. War is best won by dismissing these self-promoting amateurs.
Powell & Pressburger film in oppressive black and white without sacrificing style. Most striking is a surreal drug trip, with Rice tormented by ticking clocks and giant whiskey bottles. Christopher Challis's photography is merciless. The outdoors are constantly associated with violence, from the artillery trial at Stonehenge to bomb-defusing trips to the countryside. Yet interiors are either claustrophobic (Rice's office and apartment) or abrasive, like the nightclub where Rice and Susan bicker or (more humorously) the ministerial meeting drowned out by jackhammers.
David Farrar (Black Narcissus) gives a wonderful turn, blending mental anguish with quiet determination. Kathleen Byron makes a pleasant impression, far removed from her mania in Narcissus. Jack Hawkins is riotously funny playing against type. Robert Morley (Major Barbara) cameos as the minister. Cyril Cusack (The Day of the Jackal), Michael Gough (Batman), Sid James (The Lavender Hill Mob) and Bryan Forbes (The League of Gentlemen) feature in early roles.
The Small Back Room is another Archers bulls-eye. Darker and more restrained than their usual collaborations, it's just as powerful.
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