Things are not all well at Rynox House, where the company is on the verge of collapse. At the same time, its senior partner, FX Benedik, keeps receiving threats from the disgruntled Boswell Marsh, who is seen in town buying theatre tickets and revolvers. As the Rynox staff, including the young Tony Benedik, work to keep the business afloat, FX invites Marsh to settle his grievances at his house one fateful night....
Direction
Powell's restless camera already refusing static talkies.
Acting
Stewart Rome playing twins? Triples? You decide.
Writing
Economic anxiety denser than any 1932 thriller needed.
Director
Michael Powell
Stewart Rome
Francis Xavier Benedik / Boswell Marsh
John Longden
Anthony Xavier 'Tony' Benedik
Dorothy Boyd
Petronella 'Peter' Rickforth
Charles Paton
Samuel Faraday Rickforth
Sybil Grove
Elsa Victoria Fairburn, Benedik's housekeeper
Cecil Clayton
Mr Musgrove, theatre ticket agent
Edmund Willard
Captain Inigo 'Glassy' James
Eileen Lamb
Christabel Pagan, Benedik's private secretary
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Powell made this at age 28 for a 'quota quickie' studio, shooting it in under three weeks with a budget that wouldn't cover one day of later productions. He later called it 'a useful lesson in speed.'
The 'Boswell Marsh' name is a joke lost on modern audiences: James Boswell wrote biographies, while 'Marsh' suggests swampy deception—literally calling the character a fake life-story.
GB
