Puffin Asquith was one of the finest English film directors in the mid twentieth century but he was most at home in contemporary settings, working especially fruitfully with Terence Rattigan. He was, therefore, not an ideal choice for Victorian soap opera and unfortunately it shows. One can understand the thinking at Gainsborough, they'd hit one out of the park with The Man In Grey when they'd intended only a bread-and-butter entry so they were anxious to follow it with more of the same while the iron was still hot. Accordingly they wheeled out James Mason (and promptly under-used him), Phyllis Calvert and Stewart Granger, with Jean Kent and Wilfrid Lawson thrown in for good measure. It was barely credibly in 1944 in the middle of a war and today there seems no excuse for it. On the other hand it's always nice to see Mason.
Review of Man of Evil
