Director: Joseph Losey (credited as Victor Hanbury)
Writers: Harold Buchman, Carl Foreman
Starring: Dirk Bogarde, Alexis Smith, Alexander Knox, Hugh Griffith
Year: 1954
Duration: 89 mins
BBFC Certification: U
It is funny that, by the late 1950s, Dirk Bogarde was primarily known in Britain for the Doctor series, a collection of light hearted comedy films that cemented Bogarde’s status as a bonafide teen heartthrob. Yet, if you look at his earlier filmography (and indeed his later one) comedic films certainly seem to be the exception rather than the rule. Indeed, since the early 1950s, Bogarde’s most interesting roles were that of a far darker variety, where he played teenage delinquents or criminals on the run (before the Doctor films, he was (in)famous for coldly murdering a Policeman in 1950’s The Blue Lamp).
1954’s The Sleeping Tiger, newly released on Blu Ray and DVD by StudioCanal, sees Bogarde sink his teeth into one of these early enigmatic roles and it is a fine example of what made the actor so interesting to watch on screen. Yet that is not the only reason that The Sleeping Tiger is a notable part of Bogarde’s filmography – it also marked the first time that he worked with Joseph Losey, an American director with whom he would go on to have an incredibly fruitful and successful creative relationship, the culmination of which was the 1964 masterpiece (and contender for the greatest British film ever made) The Servant.
By the early 50s, Losey found himself cut adrift from his home in America, a victim of HUAC’s anti-Communist witch hunt. He found solace in the UK with fellow exile and writer Carl Foreman (of High Noon fame) who drew Losey’s attention to a screenplay he was working on. Attention piqued, The Sleeping Tiger soon went into production (albeit with Losey forced to work under the pseudonym Victor Hanbury) with Bogarde taking on the role of the young criminal at the heart of the story.
On paper, The Sleeping Tiger’s plot feels like a rather hokey mix of thriller and melodrama. American psychiatrist Clive Esmond (Alexander Knox) is attacked at gun point late one night on a London street. Managing to disarm the assailant, he offers him an unusual proposal; instead of taking him to the Police, Esmond asks the young man to stay with him at his home for six months so that he can use psychiatry to try and cure him of his criminal tendencies. Thus Frank Clemmons (Bogarde) ends up living with Esmond and his wife Glenda (Alexis Smith) at their large and expensive house in Surrey. Glenda is initially annoyed and rather repulsed by Frank’s presence, yet as they begin to spend more time together, Glenda’s respectable facade begins to crack under Frank’s darkly edged charm…
There are immediately elements that don’t seem to work in The Sleeping Tiger, and most of them can unfortunately be laid at Bogarde’s door. Firstly, Bogarde always excelled at psychological manipulation and cruelty as opposed to outright physical violence. Despite some vicious bullying of a household servant, Bogarde fails to fully convince as a violent criminal and certainly never comes across as dangerous as everyone seems to think he is. Secondly, he doesn’t even seem that interesting a psychological case and it certainly stretches credulity as to why Dr. Esmond is so fascinated by him (because the plot demands it, it seems).
In fact, it is the psychiatric aspects of the film that find it at its weakest, adhering to a dated and inconceivable notion that a lifetime of mental problems can be cured by one breakthrough therapy session. If the heart of The Sleeping Tiger was the doctor/pateint relationship between Clemmons and Esmond, then Bogarde and Losey’s creative partnership would not have had the most auspicious start.
Thankfully the heart of the film isn’t found here; instead, the real meat of the story centres around Glenda’s affair and eventual infatuation with Frank, the exploration of which elevates the film from a hokey psychiatric thriller into a dark and tragic melodrama – one that is still rather over the top, sure, but still manages to be thoroughly entertaining and gripping along the way.
Much of the film’s success lies with Alexis Smith’s performance as Glenda, who successfully charts an emotional journey from repulsion to infatuation with subtlety and authenticity, despite the sudden leaps the script often requires her to make. It is often heartbreaking to see her emerge from the shell of a dry, stale marriage, shimmering and glowing with a new found excitement, possibly the first time she has ever been made to feel this way. Smith’s performance anchors the film and provides its emotional core, with there being no doubt who the film’s title is really referring to.
Losey is no slouch either. Despite being under enormous personal pressures at the time, he directs the film with a quietly efficient cinematic grace (just watch the beautiful shot where Bogarde is first revealed in a mirror’s reflection). The Sleeping Tiger also adroitly establishes the themes and preoccupations that Losey and Bogarde (along with Harold Pinter) would go on to explore later in their careers. While the main couple in the film may be American, echos of The Servant can be seen in the invasion of an interloper into a middle class home, while an dark outsider proving to the catalyst to the disintegration of a relationship can see seen throughout much of Loesy’s work and his films with Bogarde in particular.
The Sleeping Tiger’s story may eventually be straightjacketed by an adherence to 1950s morality, administering punishment for the breaking of sacrosanct societal norms, yet it remains a gripping, engrossing and quietly devastating melodrama nonetheless. It certainly deserves to be re-discovered and remembered as much for its narrative qualities and performances as for being the starting gun to what proved to be one of cinema’s most interesting and compelling actor/director relationships.
Film:
The Sleeping Tiger is being released on Blu Ray and DVD by StudioCanal, as part of their Vintage Classics range. As ever with Vintage Classics, the film has been sourced from a new restoration and looks great in motion. Fine contrast and great detail abound, with only a few soft shots throughout. Audio is clear and sharp as well. Another great A/V presentation of a classic film from the Vintage Classics line.
There are two key extras on the disc. The first is a half hour interview with Dirk Bogarde’s biographer John Coldstream. He offers background info on The Sleeping Tiger, before going into a detailed discussion of Bogarde and Losey’s relationship. Film citric and writer Matthew Sweet provides an additional twenty minute interview. While he initially covers some of the same ground as Coldstream in discussing the background to The Sleeping Tiger, he goes onto to offer a far more detailed analysis of the film itself. Taken together, these are both interesting watches that offer some great contextual info on the film as well as how it ties in to the work of Losey and Bogarde.
Disc/Extras:
The Sleeping Tiger will be released on Blu Ray, DVD and Digital on the 7th November
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