The Man in the Road

An all-star cast (in Britain, at least) does its darndest to keep this talky adaptation of a popular novel afloat. A man awakes to find he cannot remember who he is. He is apparently a patient in a rural nursing home,to boot. Turns out he's a noted scientist the commies have kidnapped and hypnotized, with plans to take him with them to the Soviet Union, where they will pick his science-filled noggin. He befriends a fellow in the home who tells him of the bad guys' nefarious plan, and a little later makes the acquaintance of a pretty American writer who lives in a cottage down the road. Together, they work to unravel the mystery of his identity. Sir Donald Wolfit plays the main villain and Ella Raines is the pretty and resourceful neighbor. These names will mean nothing to most of you, but they were pretty big in their time. In fact, this was Raines' last motion picture. Wolfit, also a noted stage actor, kept working in films for another 10 years, and may be remembered best (probably much to his chagrin) for a nifty little programmer called "Blood of the Vampire," which was made about the same time as this. This modestly budgeted British flick is typically heavy on talk, but there's just enough action and a tiny bit of suspense in the second half to maintain the viewer's attention.