John Brahm directed Hangover Square a stylish, period film noir, based on the 1941 novel Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton, starring Laird Cregar, Linda Darnell, George Sanders.
Grade: B+
The screenplay was written by Barré Lyndon, who made a number of changes to the novel, including transforming George Harvey Bone into a classical composer-pianist and transferring the story’s setting to early 20th-century period piece.
The film was released in New York City on February 7, 1945, two months after its star Laird Cregar suffered a fatal heart attack.
In Edwardian London, summer of 1903, a Scottish shop owner in Fulham is stabbed to death and his shop set on fire by distinguished composer George Harvey Bone.
George makes his way back the next night to his basement flat at 12 Hangover Square in Chelsea to find there his girlfriend Barbara Chapman and her father Sir Henry Chapman. George admits to Barbara that there is “a whole day missing” from his memory.
The newspaper has stories of the murder and fire, and George goes to see Dr. Allan Middleton, who works at Scotland Yard. Bone tells him about his stress, overwork, and bouts of amnesia brought on by discordant sounds.
On August 29 at a smoking concert at working-class pub, George meets the conniving singer Netta Longdon through his buddy Mickey. Although Netta, who also lives in the square, is mediocre talent, George is enamored of her. Netta finds George boring, yet manipulates him to extract money, dinners, and other favors.
Meanwhile, Barbara is put off by George’s interest in Netta, and George, driven to another amnesia episode, strangles Netta to death on Guy Fawkes Night. He carries her body through streets filled with revelers and deposits it on top of a bonfire.
Having no memory of killing, George convinces the police he is innocent, but Middleton remains suspicious. George locks Middleton in his flat and performs the concerto as planned.
Midway through the performance, he enters the salon with other policemen. He is forced to stop performing and asks Barbara to carry on playing; however, while being questioned by the police, he attacks them.
In the fracas, gas lamp is knocked over, setting the room on fire. George goes back to playing the piano when the other musicians leave, unmindful of the fire around him and ignoring Barbara’s pleas to escape.
In the tragic ending, as Middleton and Barbara look on from outside, Middleton says that “it’s better this way.”
Laird Cregar, a fan of the original novel, encouraged Fox to buy the film rights. Fox agreed, and made several changes to the story, including the main character’s personality and the setting. Cregar, George Sanders and John Brahm, who had all worked together in The Lodger, signed on with the project.
Cregar, who wished to become a leading man and was worried about being typecast as a villain, refused the role and put on suspension. Glenn Langan was announced as his replacement. However, Cregar realized he could use his romantic scenes with Linda Darnell and Faye Marlowe to his advantage in order to change his public image into a more romantic one. He thus accepted the role, but began a radical crash diet to become more physical appealing.
The film was shot entirely in sequence so as to be consistent with Cregar’s real-life weight loss. This frustrated director Brahm, who clashed with Cregar. As a musician, Cregar was eager to perform the musical pieces; however, Brahm insisted that he mime the piano playing.
Cregar used amphetamines for rapid weight loss, which led to erratic behavior. Brahm forced the entire cast and crew to sign a document stating that they were on Brahm’s side. When filming ended, Cregar told Brahm: “We’ve worked together long enough to know we never want to work together again.”
Sanders also brought complications. Having been placed on suspension for refusing to perform in The Undying Monster, he accepted the role of Middleton. However, he was unhappy with his script, particularly the final line, which required him to justify the death of George by saying, “He’s better off this way.” When shooting the scene, Sanders repeatedly refused to say the line. The line was later changed to “It’s better this way.”
Composer Stephen Sondheim has cited Bernard Herrmann’s score for Hangover Square as influence on his macabre musical, Sweeney Todd.
Hangover Square is eerie murder melodrama of the London gaslight era—typical of Patrick Hamilton yarns, of which this is another. And it doesn’t make any pretense at mystery. The madman-murderer is known from the first reel…Production is grade A, and so is the direction by John Brahm, with particular bows to the music score by Bernard Herrmann.”
In 2010, British label Chandos released CD including 17-minute concert suite from Hangover Square, assembled by Stephen Hogger. The film’s musical tour de force is a sonata movement for piano and orchestra in the Liszt style. Slightly revised by the composer in 1973 for Charles Gerhardt’s RCA film music series and retitled “Concerto Macabre,” it was recorded by RCA, Naïve, Koch and Naxos.
The disc also includes Hogger’s extended suite based on Herrmann’s music for Citizen Kane (1941).
Cast
Laird Cregar as George Harvey Bone
Linda Darnell as Netta Longdon
George Sanders as Dr. Allan Middleton
Glenn Langan as Eddie Carstairs
Faye Marlowe as Barbara Chapman
Alan Napier as Sir Henry Chapman
