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Saturday, February 25, 2012

Four In The Morning (1965)

In the early dawn, police pull the body of an unidentified young woman out of the Thames river, apparently a suicide. A young wife (Judi Dench) feels trapped in a marriage with a baby and an immature husband (Norman Rodway) who wants no responsibilities. A young woman (Ann Lynn) reluctantly falls in love with a man (Brian Phelps) who wants no strings attached. This "kitchen sink" drama isn't based on a play but it feels like it was. The film is heavily dialogue driven as its characters spar back and forth regarding romance, marriage and relationships. As the three stories criss cross, the film teases us that the body may be either Dench or Lynn but since we're never shown the face of the body, we never know if it is one of them or another woman altogether. Is the anonymous woman significant? Does she symbolize the futility and possible future of the unhappy Dench and Lynn? Director Anthony Simmons (who also did the screenplay) doesn't give us a clue. It's hard to get past the tedium of these characters' situation and we really don't get enough insight to care though the males (there's a third man, Joe Melia as a friend of Dench and Phelps) seem rather chauvinistic in their attitude toward the women. The somber underscore is by John Barry.

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