Classic British Thrillers

Don't be fooled by the title: the three vintage British features gathered for this single-disc collection cannot be called “classics” by any charitable stretch. These cheaply made offerings fell into the genre of “quota quickies” (sort of the British equivalent to Hollywood's B-movies), which offered audiences lazy diversion and little more. The sole interest in this trio of flicks comes from the talent involved in their creation—figures who went on to the proverbial “bigger and better.” Director Michael Powell helmed two of the films here: The Phantom Light (1935), a lighthouse-based murder mystery, and Red Ensign (1934), a study of shipping industry corruption. Neither of these benign films offer any presentiment of the artistic grace that Powell would later bring to his partnership with Emeric Pressburger (in such truly classic films as Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes). The third feature, The Upturned Glass (1947), stars James Mason (prior to his Hollywood movie stardom) as a brain surgeon whose entanglement in an adulterous affair leads him to murder his suspicious sister-in-law. Mason co-produced the film, which was written by his then-wife Pamela Kellino (who also played the sister-in-law), but this family affair is more silly than sinister. Diehard Anglophiles may find some entertainment here, but given these films' relative obscurity on this side of the Atlantic, this misnamed compilation is optional, at best. (P. Hall)