Daybreak

Daybreak

2/7/1949 1h 15m 6.0/10

Overview

A mysterious barber hides a secret identity that eventually leads to tragedy.

Director

Compton Bennett

Top Billed Cast

Ann Todd

Ann Todd

Frances "Frankie" Tribe

Bill Owen

Bill Owen

Ron

Eric Portman

Eric Portman

Eddie Tribe

Maxwell Reed

Maxwell Reed

Olaf Tyson

Edward Rigby

Edward Rigby

Bill Shackle

Eliot Makeham

Eliot Makeham

Mr. Walter Bigley

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

7/9/2022

7/10

I reckon this has to be the best outing for Ann Todd ("Frankie") that I've seen. Here she plays the girlfriend of Eric Portman ("Eddie") who is really a hangman, but who doesn't want her to know so pretends to be a salesman to explain his frequent, and often overnight, absences from their home on a barge he has inherited. It's during one of those absences that she finds herself the focus of the unwarranted attentions of the rather uncouth "Olaf" (Maxwell Reed) and... Compton Bennett has created a clever piece of cinema here; we are given much of the bones of the story but have to come to a few of our own conclusions as tragedy ensues. According to the BBFC, the film wasn't cut at the time but it doesn't look like it - there are gaps that sort of make sense, but there are quite a few that clearly don't and that disjoints the narrative and occasionally spoils what is otherwise a complex tale. Well worth a gander.

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