The Small Back Room

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The Small Back Room
Susan and Sammy
Directed by	Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger
Produced by	Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger
Written by	Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger
Starring	David Farrar Kathleen Byron Jack Hawkins
Music by	Brian Easdale
Cinematography	Christopher Challis
Editing by	Clifford Turner
Distributed by	British Lion Films
Release date(s)	February 21, 1949 UK
Running time	106 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Small Back Room (1949) is a film by the British producer-writer-director team of Powell & Pressburger starring David Farrar and Kathleen Byron. It was based on the novel of the same name by Nigel Balchin. In the USA the film was released as Hour of Glory.

[edit] Story

Sammy Rice (David Farrar) is a scientist working with a specialist "back room" team during World War II. He is brought in to solve the problem of booby-trapped devices being dropped from Nazi bombers. But Sammy and his girl-friend Susan (Kathleen Byron) have to overcome some problems with bureaucracy as well as the pills and booze that Sammy takes to control the pain caused by his artificial foot.

[edit] Trivia

The book and film are credited for popularising the terms Boffin and Backroom boys. [1]

[edit] External links

• The Small Back Room at the Internet Movie Database
• The Small Back Room at the British Film Institute's Screenonline. Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries).
• The Small Back Room reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Pages

v • d • e Powell and Pressburger The films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger 1930s The Spy in Black • The Lion Has Wings (not Pressburger) 1940s Contraband • An Airman's Letter to His Mother • Forty-Ninth Parallel • One of Our Aircraft is Missing • The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp • The Volunteer • A Canterbury Tale • I Know Where I'm Going! • A Matter of Life and Death • Black Narcissus • The Red Shoes • The Small Back Room 1950s The Elusive Pimpernel • Gone to Earth • The Tales of Hoffmann • Oh... Rosalinda!! • The Battle of the River Plate • Ill Met by Moonlight 1960s Peeping Tom (not Pressburger) • They're a Weird Mob • Age of Consent (not Pressburger) 1970s The Boy Who Turned Yellow