A rare, if mild, excursion into the supernatural for Ealing Studios makes this 1944 morale-booster an intriguing and enjoyable prospect, especially if you’re not expecting another Dead of Night. Like that film, it gathers together a disparate group of characters, each with ‘issues’ dramatising some aspect of British life during wartime, from marital breakdowns and black marketeering to Ireland’s relations with Nazi Germany. Thrown together in an idyllic Welsh inn where time seems to have stood still for a whole year, the guests soon realise that all is not what it seems: especially when the publican has a habit of fading in and out of the room and his barmaid daughter casts no shadow. The ‘twist’ is obvious from the outset, the propaganda in your face, but with a great cast including Mervyn Johns and scrumptious daughter Glynis, veteran Aldwych farceur Tom Walls and rent-a-cad Guy Middleton, not to mention a light directorial touch from the reliable Basil Dearden, this is a lesser-known Ealing gem.
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