Hangover Square (1945)

Set in London in 1899 Hangover Square stars Laird Craiger (a rather husky leading man) as George Harvey Bone an up and coming composer. Bone has a number of problems in addition to his last name, chief among these is that whenever he becomes really stressed and hears a loud sound he goes into a hypnotic state in which he immediately sets out to murder someone. After performing said deed and disposing of the body (his preferred method for this being fire) he comes too with no memory of what he has done, though does suspicious about these missing time experiences.

Bone is also concerned about finishing the concerto he has been working on in time for its debut performance. Bones patron is Sir Henry Chapman whose daughter Barbra has taken quite a shine to him. Now Barbra is a good looking women, though Bone becomes more enamored of nightclub singer Nette Longdon (Linda Darnell, Hollywood's "woman with the perfect face"). Longdon leads Bone on, though she is not attracted to him she has been successful at getting the composer to write popular songs for her. This is unfortunate for Bone as it distracts from work on his concerto causing stress, and there's construction going on outside his town house so loud nosies are common. Things are not to end well for Bone.

Despite its b-movie plot and the mostly just adequate performances, this is a stylish and very well executed film. Stand out among the sequences are two, one a massive bon fire on Guy Fawks Night in which Bone dispossess of Longdons body made up to look like an effigy, the other the fantastic burning of the concert hall as Bone debuts his concerto. Craig is good in the lead role, and unfortunately this would prove to be his last film. A husky man whose weight had proved an asset in earlier films such as Blood and Sand where he plays a pompous critic and The Black Swan where he is a notorious pirate attempting to reform, Craig longed to be a romantic lead and his crash dieting resulting in his death from a heart attack at the age of 31.

The film is one of Darnell's early 'bad girl performances' and she's adequate in it though mostly on screen for her looks. The most disappointing part would have to be George Sanders as a Scotland Yard doctor who attempts to help Craiger discover what he does during his missing time experiences. Sanders simply doesn't have enough to do, the role is too easy for him and he comes across as if on auto pilot. The film however is surprisingly good and what should be a C warrants a B-.