Sadly Over-hyped

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

After being extremely enchanted by the brilliant films that I have seen of Michael Powells highly acclaimed work with Errnest Pressburger,I was thrilled to find out that one of the few surviving films that Michael Powell made before joining forces with Pressburger,had come out on DVD in France.Using Google to check that the DVD had an English soundtrack,I began to really look forward,at seeing how Michael Powell was,in his early,solo work. Whilst I feel that the films pre-..."And Then There Were None" style lighthouse-mystery plot was done in a much stronger way,in the surprisingly thrilling 1942 film Back Room Boy,the early, energetic,directing and editing from Michael Powell and D.N. Twist always the films small settings a good amount of energy.The plot:Discovering that a secret attack is being planned for a cargo ship,undercover Police Officer David Owen,decides that he has to do everything possible to get aboard a near by lighthouse,which is meant to help guide the ships to the near by shore.When Owen arrives to a small village in Wales to meet the new main leader of the lighthouse crew (Sam Higgins),he is stupidly told by Higgins that he is banned from ever setting foot on the lighthouse,due to Higgins suspecting that Owen is trying to hide something (which,unknowingly to Higgins,is that he is an undercover cop)Feeling terrified at the risk of the ship being attacked,Owen is surprised,when a woman called Alice Bright offers him the chance to come along with her to the lighthouse,on her boat.When they have eventually get onto the lighthouse,Bright and Owen find out that Higgins is now scared half to death,due to his crew disappearing into thin air one by one.Whilst Higgins believes that this is being caused by a ghost on the lighthouse,Owen and Bright suspect that it is someone who wants to make sure that the oncoming cargo ship disappears,into the ocean forever. View on the film: Although it takes a bit too much time for the mystery side of the movie's plot to really kick in,Michael Powell and editor D.N. Twist give the film a very snap pace,which most film makers would have struggled to build into the films gradual mystery.Whilst his directing is not as smooth and elegant as it would be in his later work,the rough edges to Michael Powell's very early style,actually helps the film massively,with the use of jump-cuts by Powell and Twist allowing a eerie sense of terror to enter the film,as each person on the lighthouse starts to fear that they will be the next one to "disappear".As well as the movie having a fun performance from Gordon Harker as the crusty old sea dog Sam Higgins,and Binnie Hale putting some extra excitement into the film as Alice Bright,who whilst fighting back in a very entertaining way,is also able to wear a very a head of its time short short skirt.Along with his fast-paced directing and fun cast,Powell also uses some brilliant real locations for the film,with the first half of the film showing a small country side area of Wales,and the second half of the film having a great claustrophobic fearful feel,with Michael Powell cleverly using a real lighthouse for each of his characters to disappear from,one by one. Final view on the film: A slightly disappointing slow screenplay is saved by some terrific locations,a fun cast and interestingly rough-edged speedy directing,from the great Michael Powell.

Superficially, this is just another of the many British comedy/dramas from the era. It has a characteristic manner: a fellow with a humorous take on life, a pretty girl, some intrigue and danger.What sets this apart are two things. The first is the setting in Wales, or more precisely among the Welsh. Its an odd sort or layering for me since I think the 30's era English are as different, strange, quaint to me as the Welsh are shown here from the English. The language is emphasized in the setup, first half of the movie. They surely are depicted as alien. At the end, there's a clear balance between evil Welsh and noble ones that come to the rescue. The chief villain of course, the ringmaster, is English of course. That Imperial undercurrent!The second interesting thing is that the action, about 3/5s of the movie, takes place in an actual lighthouse, most at night. What an amazing challenge this must have been; there are no studio shots that I could discern. Its a small, curved structure with no opportunity to anchor the frame against a wall. There's lots of movement across different levels, as there must be, and some clever (from a staging point of view) movement from inside to outside. I suppose the director made up much of how this appears as he went along.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Very funny British Gainsborough Picture from 1935 with plenty of No-code 'damn' 'ruddy' and 'cor-blimey' -ies along with Binnie Hale's long legs and keen 'how about it' frankness, THE PHANTOM LIGHT is a bookend GHOST TRAIN fog bound mystery set on the shrouded eerie Welsh coast. The photography and settings particularly in the quaint railway scenes in reel one and the village scenes near the end offer the viewer genuine storybook pleasure in that they look completely fake but are not at all. It just happens to naturally all look like some plaster model. Lead actor, music hall star Gordon Harker has some hilarious lines - particularly the closing one: "Lummy! what a night" which would have rocked any Odeon theatre with gales of laughter. Binnie Hale is the Brit Joan Blondell, all perky and silly and ready to cut up her trousers all ready to gad about the lighthouse stairways in hotpants and high heels. Local Welsh eccentricness is on full display with plenty of Popeye style gnarling and eyeball flexing. I thought it was hilarious as (later famous) Director Michael Powell was clearly getting his actors to have fun with their roles. The local policeman is exactly like Constable Plod from the Noddy kids books..all tubby and bug eyed. It is all silly and very funny. The Warner bros pic SHH! THE OCTOPUS of 1935 is a good counterpart from the USA.

There's a nice undercurrent of comedy running through this otherwise standard mystery story. Set in a "haunted" lighthouse on the supposedly lonely Welsh coast, there seems to be a remarkable crowd of characters bumping into each other at every turn. The plot starts out promisingly with much talk of ghostly terror, but settles into a rather lame and predictable conclusion.The local Welsh villagers are mercilessly satirized as dim-witted, inbred provincials, in contrast with the smarty pants Londoners who've dropped in to sort out this here ghostly nonsense. An apparently nymphomanic young blonde with no relevance to the story other than removing various items of clothing as things progress, adds to the sly humour.There's lots of excellent location cinematography of craggy Welsh rocks and crashing waves to provide a suitably moody background. Taking all these elements together, I came away mildly entertained, although not mentally stimulated. Good late night fun.