James Hilton's track record in movies based on his novels is pretty good. LOST HORIZON, GOODBYE MR. CHIPS, and RANDOM HARVEST were turned into first rate films. RAGE IN HEAVEN was less successful. But there is also this fine tragedy about two simple people who are embroiled in circumstances that not only destroy them but blacken their memories. Paul Muni is a doctor in a small country town, married to Flora Robson. They have a son. Robson is a tad domineering, and Muni is subservient. Jane Bryan is a German woman who is in England just as World War I begins. Hated by the xenophobes in the country, Bryan is hired as a nanny by Robson. She gets closer to Muni and his son, much to the dismay of Robson. Robson is a hypochondriac, and when she has a headache she wants some medicine. Her son brings the wrong pill, and she dies as a result. Bryan was preparing to leave the town with Muni's assistance, when they are arrested (appearing as they do to be about to skip out). They are tried for the murder, and circumstantial evidence conspires to condemn them. They are executed before the movie ends.
The description does not do justice to the story. Hilton's novel is based loosely on the Crippen Case (see THE SUSPECT), except that it is taking the point that Crippen was not guilty (some people who felt sorry for Dr. Crippen felt he was never been able to show he did not commit his wife's murder). Also, Hilton is reexamining the extreme xenophobia that swept Great Britain in 1914-1918 towards Germany and it's people and culture (a similar xenophobia would hit the U.S. from 1915 to 1918, culminating in such acts as calling frankfurters "hot dogs" and banning German operas from the Metropolitan Opera House). In this respect the film is of considerable historical interest. Finally Hilton is into the running irony of the plot. While in prison Muni philosophizes about the circumstances leading to his and Bryan's fates, and it turns out that he realizes that the powers that be that have helped craft their ill-deserved demise are the same bunch of idiots causing the massive slaughter known as World War I. Hence the ironic title of the film - it is more than the story of the destructions of two innocent people in a botched trial. It is the story of the destruction of millions by elected fools.
Of particular note in an outstanding cast are Henry Daniell and Una O'Connor. Daniell is as unsympathetic as normal, but here he actually is the public prosecutor. While the film audience realizes he has misread the evidence and is railroading two innocent people to the gallows, one has to remember he does not know this but looks at the evidence as accumulating to pointing out the guilt of Muni and Bryant. Actually he is a very effective prosecutor (and his character, Sir Ronald Dawson, seems based on Crippen's very effective prosecutor, Sir Richard Muir). O'Connor is Bryant's foe due to Bryant's German background, and she does testify against her. But as she does she slowly realizes that she is putting the noose around the necks of both Muni and Bryant, and it does not sit well with her. The last three minutes of the film concentrate on her, as she realizes Muni and Bryant are dead, and as she confronts evidence that they have not lived in vain. The conclusion is reaffirming and heartbreaking at the same time.
The description does not do justice to the story. Hilton's novel is based loosely on the Crippen Case (see THE SUSPECT), except that it is taking the point that Crippen was not guilty (some people who felt sorry for Dr. Crippen felt he was never been able to show he did not commit his wife's murder). Also, Hilton is reexamining the extreme xenophobia that swept Great Britain in 1914-1918 towards Germany and it's people and culture (a similar xenophobia would hit the U.S. from 1915 to 1918, culminating in such acts as calling frankfurters "hot dogs" and banning German operas from the Metropolitan Opera House). In this respect the film is of considerable historical interest. Finally Hilton is into the running irony of the plot. While in prison Muni philosophizes about the circumstances leading to his and Bryan's fates, and it turns out that he realizes that the powers that be that have helped craft their ill-deserved demise are the same bunch of idiots causing the massive slaughter known as World War I. Hence the ironic title of the film - it is more than the story of the destructions of two innocent people in a botched trial. It is the story of the destruction of millions by elected fools.
Of particular note in an outstanding cast are Henry Daniell and Una O'Connor. Daniell is as unsympathetic as normal, but here he actually is the public prosecutor. While the film audience realizes he has misread the evidence and is railroading two innocent people to the gallows, one has to remember he does not know this but looks at the evidence as accumulating to pointing out the guilt of Muni and Bryant. Actually he is a very effective prosecutor (and his character, Sir Ronald Dawson, seems based on Crippen's very effective prosecutor, Sir Richard Muir). O'Connor is Bryant's foe due to Bryant's German background, and she does testify against her. But as she does she slowly realizes that she is putting the noose around the necks of both Muni and Bryant, and it does not sit well with her. The last three minutes of the film concentrate on her, as she realizes Muni and Bryant are dead, and as she confronts evidence that they have not lived in vain. The conclusion is reaffirming and heartbreaking at the same time.