Hangover Square (1945)

Hangover Square (1945)

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“Something’s happened lately — these moods are getting deeper and longer.”

Synopsis:
Composer George Bone (Laird Cregar) suffers from sound-induced blackouts, during which he commits crimes he can’t remember. When he’s jilted by a manipulative dance hall singer (Linda Darnell), he commits one murder too many, and a Scotland Yard doctor (George Sanders) is hot on his trail.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

  • Composer
  • George Sanders Films
  • Historical Dramas
  • Horror
  • Laird Cregar Films
  • Linda Darnell Films
  • Multiple Personalities
  • Serial Killers

Response to Peary’s Review:
As Peary notes, Laird Cregar gives one of his best, most sympathetic “psycho performances” in this “wildly stylized period noir” — released just two months after his premature death by heart attack at the age of 30. Cregar plays Bone as a quietly insecure, well-meaning artist whose physically imposing body functions as a scarily efficient tool for destruction while also belying a gentler nature.

Cregar’s performance here shows ample evidence of his burgeoning talent; he masterfully combines broadly psychotic behavior with a range of subtle gestures a la Brando in On the Waterfront. Watch the way he idly scratches a Siamese cat on its head with the tip of a fan, for instance:

or quietly adjusts his jacket collar when walking into the room where he recently — albeit unknowingly — tried to strangle his friend.

In addition to Cregar’s nuanced performance, Hangover Square benefits from both “wonderful period detail” and “bizarre direction” by John Brahm. The opening scene of the movie — in which Bone murders an antiques dealer, then flees in confusion — is filmed with “wild angles, camera distortion, [and] swooping crane shots”, thus immediately evoking the protagonist’s crazed frame of mind.

This stylized camera work is repeated each time Bone gets knocked into an alternate state of consciousness, and ultimately builds towards the film’s baroquely melodramatic ending — one which effectively conveys the misfortune of a genius betrayed by his own mind.

Redeeming Qualities and Moments:

  • Laird Cregar’s excellent performance in what was tragically both his first and last top-billed role
  • Linda Darnell as the seductively beautiful singer who meets a fiery fate
  • Creative camera work, lighting, and set designs

  • Bernard Herrmann’s dramatic score

Must See?
Yes. While not as renowned as Brahm’s 1944 flick The Lodger (another movie in which Cregar plays a psychotic serial-killer — Jack the Ripper), film fanatics will undoubtedly want to see Cregar in his final performance.

Categories

  • Good Show
  • Noteworthy Performance(s)

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One thought on “Hangover Square (1945)”

  1. Leaning toward a must-see here. Not only for Cregar’s memorable performance – enough in itself – but it’s marvelously produced, exquisite-looking (in a gothic way) and one wants there to be more to it: in the sense that, at 77. min., it seems over too quickly and a slightly more detailed plot would have been welcome. (As well, had it been a little longer, the secondary characters might be somewhat less one-dimensional, though that’s not all that troublesome.)

    As stated, Bernard Herrmann’s eclectic score is of particular importance – it’s almost a character in the film; no more so than during the final scenes involving the concerto, which serves as the manifestation of Cregar’s alter ego.

    The details of Darnell’s death – happening as it does on Guy Fawkes Night – are particularly creepy.

    [Coincidence?: The serial killer in Alice Sebold’s ‘The Lovely Bones’ – note that – is named George Harvey. Hmm…]

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