psychological thriller
Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting.
In terms of context and c ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
starring
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed theater, film, and television.
Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "on ...
and directed by
Anthony Kimmins
Anthony Martin Kimmins, OBE (10 November 1901 – 19 May 1964) was an English director, playwright, screenwriter, producer and actor.
Biography
Kimmins was born in Harrow, London on 10 November 1901, the son of the social activists Charles Wi ...
Nigel Balchin
Nigel Marlin Balchin (3 December 1908 – 17 May 1970)Peter Rowland, "Balchin, Nigel Marlin (1908–1970)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, accessed 9 December 2008 was an English psyc ...
. It was entered into the
1947 Cannes Film Festival
The 2nd Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 25 September 1947. The new building that was meant to host the festival, the Palais du Festival, was still not ready, and the festival was held amid many technical and financial problems. In 1947, t ...
. The title is derived from a quotation of John Donne's " Devotions", which serves as the motto for the original book.
Plot
Felix Milne (Meredith) is an overworked psychologist with psychological problems of his own. Molly Lucian seeks Milne's help in treating her husband Adam, traumatised from his experiences in a Japanese POW camp. Adam is about to become severely schizophrenic. To make matters worse, Felix finds his own home life deteriorating.
Cast
*
Burgess Meredith
Oliver Burgess Meredith (November 16, 1907 – September 9, 1997) was an American actor and filmmaker whose career encompassed theater, film, and television.
Active for more than six decades, Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "on ...
as Felix Milne
*
Kieron Moore
Kieron Moore (born Ciarán Ó hAnnracháin, anglicised as Kieron O'Hanrahan) (5 October 1924 – 15 July 2007) was an Irish film and television actor whose career was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s. He may be best remembered for his role as ...
as Adam Lucian
*
Dulcie Gray
Dulcie Winifred Catherine Savage Denison, (''née'' Bailey; 20 November 1915 – 15 November 2011), known professionally as Dulcie Gray, was a British actress, mystery writer and lepidopterist.
While at drama school in the late 1930s she met ...
as Patricia Milne
*
Michael Shepley
Arthur Michael Shepley-Smith (29 September 1907 – 28 September 1961), known professionally as Michael Shepley, was a British actor, appearing in theatre, film and some television between 1929 and 1961.
He was born in Plymouth, Devon. Shepl ...
as Peter Edge
*
Christine Norden
Christine Norden (born Mary Lydia Thornton; 28 December 1924 – 21 September 1988) was a British actress.
Early life
Norden was born in Mowbray Terrace, Sunderland. She was the daughter of a bus driver. Her childhood home was in Chester Ro ...
Walter Fitzgerald
Walter Fitzgerald Bond (18 May 1896 – 20 December 1976) was an English character actor.
Early life
Born in Stoke, Plymouth, Fitzgerald was a former stockbroker before he began his theatrical training at RADA. He joined the British Army dur ...
as Dr. Norris Pile
* Edgar Norfolk as Sir George Freethorne
*
John Laurie
John Paton Laurie (25 March 1897 – 23 June 1980) was a Scottish actor. In the course of his career, Laurie performed on the stage and in films as well as television. He is perhaps best remembered for his role in the sitcom '' Dad's Army'' (19 ...
as Dr. James Garsten
* Martin Miller as Dr. Hans Tautz
*
Clive Morton
Clive Morton (16 March 1904 – 24 September 1975) was an English actor best known for playing upper class Englishmen, he made many screen appearances, especially on television. In 1955, he appeared in Laurence Olivier's '' Richard III'' and is ...
as Robert Paston
*
Joss Ambler
Joss Ambler (23 June 1900 – 1959) was an Australian-born British film and television actor. He usually played somewhat pompous and irascible figures of authority, particularly in comedy films. He was an effective foil to George Formby in both ...
as Julian Briant
*
Jack Raine
Thomas Foster "Jack" Raine (18 May 1897 – 30 May 1979) was an English stage, television and film actor.
He was a leading man of the British cinema in the late twenties and early thirties in such films as ''The Hate Ship'' (1929), '' Raise the ...
as Inspector Pierce
*
Laurence Hanray
Laurence Hanray ( Lawrence Henry Jacobs; 16 May 1874 – 28 November 1947), sometimes credited as Lawrence Hanray, was a British film and theatre actor born in London, England. He is also credited as the author of several plays and music hall s ...
as Dr. Lefage
*
Helen Haye
Helen Haye (born Helen Hay, 28 August 1874 – 1 September 1957) was a British stage and film actress. New York Times. 3 Septem ...
as Lady Maresfield
* John Stuart as Dr. John Hayling
Production
The American actor Burgess Meredith was cast in the lead. At the same time, his wife
Paulette Goddard
Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress notable for her film career in the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Born in Manhattan and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Goddard initially began her career ...
was also hired by
Alexander Korda
Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)An Ideal Husband'' (1947).
Australian Frederic Hilton worked as technical adviser.
Reception
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' noted a "serious, adult and highly interesting film drama both in point of view and execution," singling out the work of writer Balchin, director Kimmins, and producer Korda, alongside stars Burgess Meredith and Kieron Moore.
The film was picketed on its US release by the
Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It pl ...
, an anti-British group active at the time. The picketing was part of the group's call to boycott British films and products, and had little to do with ''Mine Own Executioner'' in itself.