Review of Man in Grey, The

Introduction

Taking a rather large leaf out of `Citizen Kane`, `The Man in Grey` opens in an auction house and slowly focuses in on a trinket box and contents that belonged to the late Marchioness of Rohan. Cue flashback and the telling of a story that reveals the significance of the box before returning to the auction house and the fate of the box.

This marked Stewart Granger`s breakthrough film, his first in a starring role, and his second film in two years with James Mason. This was due to a stipulation at the time that men over the age of thirty could avoid conscription so long as they were working; James Mason was a conscientious objector so took all the work he could during the war. As many leading men such as James Stewart and David Niven were on active duty, there was a dearth of male talent which gave actors like Stewart Granger opportunities that may otherwise have been denied to them. An indication of the shortage of actors and how they were `recycled` is that this film marked the second of four films that James Mason starred alongside Margaret Lockwood and the first of three with Phyllis Calvert, all between 1939 and 1945.

Video

The fullscreen transfer is far from pristine with plenty of grain, blurring and softness that makes it obvious that you`re watching an old film, from old stock, which may as well have been recorded from TV.

Audio

The DD 2.0 mono, like the video transfer, has not undergone any restoration and, although the dialogue is clear, there is enough crackling and hissing to irritate - maybe Granada were hoping to recreate the look and sound of a World War Two cinema!

Features

The main supplementary feature is a 37 minute interview from 1984 with James Mason entitled `James Mason: The Star they Loved to Hate`, which is preceded by the disclaimer "This show has been edited for contractual reasons". Shelley Rohde conducts the interview providing an overview of his film career which is accompanied by clips of films of which Granada has the rights. This is likely to have been the last filmed interview that Mason gave as he he died before it was aired.

Theatrical trailers aren`t normally worth watching but this was noticeable because it boasted that the cast included "Stewart Granger as the gay adventurer".

There is also a gallery which runs for 45 seconds and includes nine photos and publicity material.

Conclusion

Made in 1943 and set at the time with Dunkirk being mentioned and the auction halted by the blackout, this period drama seems to be one of many that were made as a distraction from the hardships of wartime.

The story is fairly formulaic and its hard to empathise with the distant and brutal Rohan, the selfish and scheming Hesther, the naïve Clarissa or the ambitious Rokeby. Despite this, there is obvious chemistry between Margaret Lockwood (Hesther) and James Mason (Rohan) and the film is enjoyable when the two share the screen. However, Stewart Granger and Phyllis Calvert appear lightweight in comparison and neither have chemistry with either of their co-stars. As the film is monochrome, Lord Rohan`s grey attire is not quite the distinguishing feature I imagine the author intended.

Harry Scott, in his only film role, plays Lord Rohan`s servant Toby, who is strictly loyal to Clarissa; however, he is obviously `blacked up` and given such horrendously cod slave dialogue along the lines of `she a witch Mr. Rohan sir`, that it`s impossible to take his role seriously.

Review discs tend to fit into one of two categories: new releases and re-issues with improved picture, sound and a decent extras package. This doesn`t fit into either and, like `The History of Mr. Polly`, is a title that was hardly clamouring for a DVD release. It does feature one of James Mason`s stronger performances but I really can`t think of the target audience for this disc. With the poor transfer and sound quality together with minimal extra features, I got the feeling that Granada had a look through their back catalogue, picked this out at random, slapped it onto a DVD and released it with a modest RRP. It`s the sort of film that you would see on ITV on a weekday sometime between 11am and 2pm and should really have been left for a James Mason box set.

If you`re a big fan of James Mason, then this disc is worth a watch but otherwise there is not much to recommend.