the audience applauded

Better Late Then Never

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The sheer tedium of the pacing was enough to make me want to turn this WW II propaganda film off, but I was determined to see it through. The message, however, came stomping over my hopes for some redemption from a very solid cast with unquestioned talents. Sadly, they didn't stand a chance with this gray, grim material that was meant to convey a very plain and unadorned message: Oppression is bad, liberty is good. It is impossible to disagree, but this movie was so drawn out, so yawn-worthy, that it almost undercut the sentiment. Not one of the better products of the difficult war years from Britain's film industry. And, alas, Michael Wilding's central performance was such a sorry one-note of morose self-pity that it was extremely difficult even to want to empathize with him. Times were tough for the British during the Forties but at least they couldn't have been this boring.

Based on a play, "Thunder Rock" is a 1942 film that follows the fascination with ghosts that seems prevalent at the time, just as it is prevalent in ours. There was "Between Two Worlds," which was the remake of "Outward Bound," "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir," "Heaven Can Wait," "Here Comes Mr. Jordan," - etc.! I won't go into the angels - "It's a Wonderful Life," "The Bishop's Wife," etc. The war caused people to think about death and the afterlife a great deal."Thunder Rock" is about a newspaperman David Charleston, (Michael Redgrave) who saw the rise of Fascism and Nazism and tried to warn people to wake up and take action. Unfortunately, his editors wouldn't allow the doom and gloom. His response is to give up and take a job as a lighthouse keeper on Thunder Rock in Lake Michigan. There, he becomes interested in a ship's log of a ship that went down 90 years earlier. He begins to have conversations with them in his mind. None of the passengers know they're dead except for the captain (Finlay Currie). He shows David how each of these people came to be on the ship. There's a doctor driven out of Vienna for using an early form of anesthesia (Frederick Valk), an early feminist (Beverly Mullen) jailed repeatedly for her views, a man and his wife en route to America to try for a better life for their family.There are several themes present in this film - the themes of keeping hope, not giving up one's quest, and affirming life, certainly important ideas in a time of war. There's also the theme of reincarnation, as one of these people could have been Charleston. In the beginning of the film, there is the communication of information from one person to another to another to another, as knowledge is passed through generations.Redgrave is excellent, as are Finlay Currie, Beverly Mullen, James Mason (as David's friend) and a young Lili Palmer as the doctor's daughter. In fact, the whole cast is good, including a young Barry Morse in his pre-"The Fugitive" days, as the ex-fiancée of Beverly Mullen.Beautifully photographed and thought-provoking.

David Charleston (Michael Redgrave) is an anti-Fascist who spent the entire 1930s warning the Western World of the threat of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Japan. But nothing was done, and in 1940 the world is teetering on the verge of falling into the hands of these three monstrous regimes. But Charleston has gotten fed up with being "Cassandra" (the Greek seer who was doomed to always foretell the future but never be believed). He has gotten an appointment to taking care of a lighthouse in the Great Lakes, at Thunder Rock, and cynically cuts himself off from mankind.Not totally though. He has discovered the remains of papers that concern the lives of the passenger and crew of a sailing ship, the Lady of the Lakes, which hit a reef near the site of the lighthouse in 1850, killing everyone on board. Reading of their lives he has reconstructed the lives of seven people and imagines what they were like. So they "entertain" him, by going through their normal behavior and set speeches. In particular a Doctor and his daughter (Frederick Valk and Lili Palmer) fleeing from the militarism of Germany. Valk was working on anesthesia and Palmer hoped to find a new home and a future (i.e., a husband and family) when the tragedy occurred. Redgrave takes a fancy to Palmer, and in his conversations she shows she is equally interested in him. But all of these ghosts (except the ship's Captain, Finlay Currie) are unaware that it is no longer 1850, and that they are all dead.The crisis of the film is when Currie (who has assisted in this mental game with Redgrave) gets tired about it because Redgrave has turned the characters into caricatures and not real people. When this happens he berates Redgrave for misusing his powerful imagination. Redgrave agrees to allow them more outspoken freedom of action. But when they are more outspoken, they ask questions about the time they are in and the world as it is. Redgrave gets fed up and (despite warnings from Currie) allows Palmer to read a plaque on the wall that describes the shipwreck and the loss of everyone on board. He then tells them that the civilization as they knew it is ending, and that he has gone into the lighthouse to avoid seeing it end close up. His disillusionment is expressed to them, and then he adds that now that he has revealed the truth he sees no further use in having them around. As they are figments of his imagination he will no longer need them and they can now disappear. Redgrave is seen concentrating. Only they don't disappear.Valk confronts him, and forces Redgrave to compare them with himself. Did civilization cease in the 19th Century due to their deaths? Is any one man (a Darwin, a Lincoln) so essential for change that without him or her change will never occur? Is isolation the answer to facing the future or to stand up and act?I was fortunate back in the 1970s to see a stage production of THUNDER ROCK in Manhattan at the Equity Library Theatre on W. 103rd Street. The play was shorter in cast than this film version (which builds up the stupidity that Redgrave's character faced in the 1930s, leading to his cynical viewpoint). But the effect of the play was still strong then as when it first appeared in the 1940s. Civilization is always facing some disaster - but as long as someone speaks out and acts it can continue to survive.

When the authorities discover a lighthouse keeper is not cashing his paychecks, they go to visit him to make sure he is OK. One of the visitors gets into a chat with the lighthouse keeper, David Charleston and discovers that his desire to stay in the lighthouse is based on the fact that he is in contact with the ghosts from a ship that sunk many years ago; although the ghosts do not know they are dead. Charleston hides away - having been frustrated by those in power ignoring his warnings about fascism. However he finds that each passenger has had similar experiences that he, with the benefit of future knowledge, can learn from.The point of this film is both obvious but also too obscure. The message of not giving up is laboured at the end, but for the majority of the film, it is hidden and damages the early meaning of the film. The pre-war setting is a morale boosting tale of sticking at it - for we never know what tomorrow will bring; it delivers a reasonable tale but I found it hard to get into the stories of the various passengers as they were not characters I was given a lot of time to get into and care about. The stuff with Charleston himself works better as I cared about him due to the time spent with him.The film is very stagy however, it doesn't really flow very well at times and the best scenes are played out as if in a theatre. It is rather heavy at times but it still works if you know what to expect. The cast is OK but really it is all Redgrave's film. He exaggerates his performance as if he is on a stage and needing to project to the back row, but he is still very good. Mason has a minor role but always has such a good presence that it is hard to fault him. The support cast of passengers is less assured and really never get close to being real people - instead their dialogue and stories are too heavily laden with meaning.Overall this is a reasonably good propaganda. It has more meaning and human pathos than most WWII propaganda films as it is not anti-enemy but pro-spirit and persistence. It may all be a little heavy and too stagy but it is enjoyable if you can do enough to get past the heavy message and some overly worthy acting.