The Small Voice

I'm glad this film has been rescued from oblivion. It has many virtues. An excellent cast: Donald Murray, Valerie Hobson and Howard Keel are ideal in the three main roles, and they receive strong support from most of the minor characters. A strong, well-paced plot with frequent credible twists. Psychological depth and moral ambiguity. A satisfactory balance between thought and action. A certain oppressiveness in the interiors with some noir camera-work and sound track which add to the suspense. Idyllic landscapes. Plenty of period detail. It's a pity that the Welsh accents really don't come off, but one can't have everything, and this is one of the few films I've seen which I wished was much longer.

The Small Voice never quite descends into 'so bad it's good' territory, but seldom amounts to anything more than routine, run of the mill noir by numbers.

James Donald is part of a valiant generation for whom peace has been achieved at a high personal cost. A potential career in professional cricket ruined by a serious leg injury at the hands of the Nazis, he has enjoyed success as a playwright, but is resentful, condescending and prickly as an individual. Long suffering wife, Valerie Hobson, exasperated by his self pitying dirges and monotonous, in-depth diatribes on the workings of the criminal mind, has concluded that their marriage has run its course.

With meticulous attention to detail we are informed that the story begins 'on a road near Dartmoor Prison'. Even the newspaper headline revealing that three soldiers are on the run, would leave most readers turning to the back page for the football results. Needless to say, the lives of the escaped convicts and the unhappy couple become inextricably intertwined in what plays out as a minor league blueprint for The Desperate Hours. The three crooks can be categorized as hard nut (replete with American brogue), cheeky chappie and dumb guy. David Greene battles gamely to combine slow on the uptake with West Country, occasionally slipping into Cockney and even a touch of psuedo Yorkshire.

There appears to have been a deliberate attempt to minimize any worthwhile action. The road accident and shootings occur off camera. The only real animation being a woman's horrified facial expression upon discovering that washing had been stolen from her line. She must have thought that Arnold Layne had paid her a visit!

Much of The Small Voice comes off as simply laboured and plodding, with Hobson and Keel's professionalism just about carrying this largely listless affair.

Ah...this Boke bloke. Keel credited under his real name, Harold and making his screen debut, prior to finding success in musicals like Showboat and Calamity Jane. His only involvement with music here occurs when he recklessly wrecks a record which he finds objectionable. Now, if he EVER contemplated doing that to any of my Frank Zappa albums......

From 1948, A Small Voice or Hideout is a 1948 British film, directed by Fergus McDonell.

A playwright, Murray Byrne (James Donald) and wife Eleanor (Valerie Hobson) stop en route home to help two men (Howard Keel billed as Harold and David Greene) who had been in a car accident.

It turns out that they have escaped from prison. Once at the couple's home, they hold them hostage. One returns to the accident and brings back a third man and two children who were in the other car with a dead chauffeur.

The little boy develops meningitis. Desperate to get a doctor for him, Eleanor tries sneaking out of the house to get to a phone box, since the crooks have disconnected the phone, but Boke (Keel) catches her.

Somewhat suspenseful, with Keel and Hobson having the best roles. The housekeeper (Joan Young) is a scream - at one point trying to distract Boke while Eleanor attempts to leave, she proclaims Bible passages. He shoves her into a room and closes the door, but she opens it and continues proclaiming.

Hobson was a huge star in England, married to John Profumo of the Profumo-Christine Keeler scandal that rocked Britain. The American Keel enjoyed a career on Broadway in musicals as well as films and TV, notably as a regular on Dallas.

Predictable.

Taut little British suspense feature sees Howard Keel in his film debut (billed as Harold Keel). Boke (Keel) is having a bad day he's broken out of Dartmoor Prison, shot a cop, been in a car crash and now is in a hostage situation with unhappily married couple James Donald and Valerie Hobson. He has Donald who writes plays about crooks trying to get into his psyche, Hobson looking at him like he's trash, the kid upstairs screaming from meningitis and two useless fellow escapees plus its hot inside and we've got no electric fan (James Donald didn't think it worthwhile buying one). Howard Keel looks lean and imposing and every inch his over 6ft height. American born Keel was in England starring on stage in 'Oklahoma'. You can hear him singing 'the hangman song' on the record James Donald plays. His next film was the big budget MGM musical ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. Oddly enough Keel played another escaped prisoner in the British made FLOODS OF FEAR. Valerie Hobson was married to the film's producer Anthony Havelock-Allan and later married politician John Profumo but that's a whole other story !!!

I've just see this worthy film on Talking Pictures, Channel 81- and there appears to be a two-part version on YouTube. (Incidentally, IMDB puts the film's length at 67 minutes, but the YouTube offering runs to some 82 minutes, which is confirmed by other listings.)

At first the film was a bit talky and slow, but soon picked up and flowed along reasonably well. Like another IMBD reviewer, I was puzzled about how the three bad guys got guns (and how they'd got out of Dartmoor Prison). As to their getting different number plates, I'd assumed they were stolen from another vehicle.

Low budget, small cast, and most of the film took place inside the married couple's house. Harold/Howard Keel portrayed a chilling character, in contrast to the cheerful ones he often played as his career developed. Michael Balfour all but stole some scenes, playing to type as a criminal of limited intelligence. And Michael Hordern has a few lines to say on his way to become a recognizable face in so many British films.