Strange things happen in the dark
This British espionage drama, with shades of noir, was made during WWII. While it features plenty of light-hearted moments, it still reflects the greater concerns of a wartime public, who lived in fear that Nazi agents were infiltrating their society. James Mason, in an early lead role, plays a military officer who has been court-martialed because some information that was in his possession fell into the hands of the enemy.
Of course, he is eager to clear his name and this is what kicks off the story. If THEY MET IN THE DARK had been an Alfred Hitchcock film, it probably would have contained many more MacGuffins and chase scenes.
The story is based on a bestselling novel, in which it is a detective, not a disgraced officer who does the investigating. There’s a girl (Joyce Howard) tossed into the mix, who just so happens to visit a cottage where a woman has been murdered. The dead woman was one of Mason’s main hopes to find out who’s behind the German spy ring. But due to this sudden turn of events, he doesn’t have much to go on now.
Howard’s character, who meets him in the dark outside the cottage (hence the title), joins the investigation. She has no choice, since police don’t believe her story about the dead body, after it’s gone missing. At first, Mason doesn’t want Howard interfering with his own investigation, so they are humorously working at cross-purposes.
Their search leads them to a theatrical agency. At the agency, the owner (Tom Walls) is involved in dubious practices, some of which are not entirely clear. But we do come to find out that Walls is the head of the underground ring. Howard poses as a wannabe singer seeking representation with Walls to get a foot in the door, while Mason cozies up to a real singer (Phyllis Stanley) associated with Walls, who performs nightly at a posh club. Stanley’s character is a patriotic Brit, seemingly unaware that Walls is a bad guy.
The nightclub is swarming with various Nazis, as well as a man (David Farrar) from the British military on Mason’s side. Several interesting scenarios play out at the club, which provides some of the film’s humor. Meanwhile, the police are closing in because of their own investigation.
The film’s highpoint has Howard going back to the cottage where an eccentric tenant (Karel Stepanek) is gardening. Mason and the police soon arrive. As Howard inspects a scarecrow in the garden, she makes a gruesome discovery that the body of the dead woman is stuffed inside the scarecrow and is about to be burned. It’s a rather shocking development.
Of course, they still need to need to nab Walls and his cronies back at the club, which they do. And once the case has been solved, meaning Howard has her answers, and Mason can be reinstated to the military, the couple can go forward with the rest of their lives, which they plan to spend together. It’s not a great film, but it’s still a fairly entertaining one.
Of or Involving Motion Pictures 