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Wednesday, April 22, 2020

THE PASSING OF THE THIRD FLOOR BACK (1935)

A stage hit in London & New York for matinee idol Johnston Forbes-Robertson (he filmed it in 1918), and you’ll see why. A fine piece of sentimental poetic realism (make that kitchen-sink poetic realism), its irresistible leading role, here Conrad Veidt, puts a mystery boarder at a lower middle-class rooming house in London, filled with interacting tenants, each on the verge of missing their chance at happiness. An unspoken crush between two lonely souls on the wrong side of thirty; a debt-plagued family whose lovely daughter (Anna Lee) is emotionally tied to a penniless artist upstairs, but bartered to a cut-throat businessman across the hall; a common scullery maid, a good girl with a dicey past, dreaming of a nice tenant while fending off unwanted advances by that same businessman. All these little dramas given a nudge in the ‘right’ direction by our elusive/other-worldly new resident. Neatly handled on a tight budget by German/Hollywood exile, director Berthold Viertel* and shot by another ex-UFA man, Curt Courant, just off THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH for Alfred Hitchcock whose wife, Alma Reville, shares script credit. Bumpy going here and there, and the concept has a fuzzy, metaphysical spin, but memorable just the same.

READ ALL ABOUT IT: *Donna Rifkind’s new bio on Berthold Viertel’s wife, THE SUN AND HER STARS: SALKA VIERTEL AND HITLER’S EXILES IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF HOLLYWOOD, covers Berthold’s difficult career as well as the huge influence Salka had in Hollywood from best pal Greta Garbo on down as writer, literary salon keeper & warmhearted cook of German specialties.

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