The Small Back Room

A crippling disability has left him cynical and disillusioned he struggles with a drink problem at home and politics and petty pride at work.

The small back room.

Based on the acclaimed novel by nigel balchin the small back room details the professional and personal travails of troubled alcoholic research scientist and military bomb disposal expert sammy. Sammy rice prevented by an artificial foot from military service in world war ii is instead a back room boy a life he finds frustrating in the extreme. Although the small back room does touch on some of the wider themes of previous archers work perhaps most notably the frustrations arising from the complex and overly bureaucratic relations between government and the military the drama here homes in on the personal angst being suffered by sammy whose own self effacing nature and. With david farrar jack hawkins kathleen byron leslie banks.

As the germans drop explosive booby traps on britain in 1943 the embittered expert who ll have to disarm them fights a private battle with alcohol. But the surreal. A little masterpiece like nigel balchin s the small back room speaks to our own time but with so much literary experience behind it shirley hazzard balchin has been absurdly overlooked for too long julian fellowes i d place him up there with graham greene philippa gregory a remarkable storyteller daily mail a brilliant novelist. The small back room released in the united states as hour of glory is a 1949 film by the british producer writer director team of michael powell and emeric pressburger starring david farrar and kathleen byron and featuring jack hawkins and cyril cusack it was based on the 1943 novel of the same name by nigel balchin.

With john gregson ursula howells david webb jack hedley. The small back room michael powell 1949 102min. Sammy rice is a weapons scientist one of the back room boys of the second world war. Audience reviews for the small back room sep 28 2018 perhaps a movie too adult for the movies this one involves the men who toil in secret to diffuse enemy science threats during ww2.

The small back room details the travails of a troubled research scientist and military bomb disposal expert sammy rice who while struggling with a complex relationship with secretary girlfriend susan is hired by the government to advise on a dangerous new german weapon. A true modern classic the small back room is a towering novel of the second world war.