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The Sleeping Tiger

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1954 film by Joseph Losey

The Sleeping Tiger
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoseph Losey
Screenplay byHarold Buchman
Carl Foreman
Based onThe Sleeping Tiger
by Maurice Moiseiwitsch
Produced byVictor Hanbury
Stuart Levy
Joseph Losey
StarringAlexis Smith
Alexander Knox
Dirk Bogarde
CinematographyHarry Waxman
Edited byReginald Mills
Music byMalcolm Arnold
Production
companies		Insignia Films
Dorast Pictures
Distributed byAnglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors
Release date
  • 21 June 1954 (1954-06-21) (London)
Running time89 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$300,000

The Sleeping Tiger is a 1954 British film noir directed by Joseph Losey and starring Alexis Smith, Dirk Bogarde and Alexander Knox. It was Losey's first British feature, which he directed under the pseudonym of Victor Hanbury due to being blacklisted in the McCarthy Era. It was shot at Walton Studios and on location in London. The film's sets were designed by the art director John Stoll. It was released by Anglo-Amalgamated while in America it was distributed by Astor Pictures.

Plot

Two criminals are stalking the streets of London one dark night. Frank Clemmons (Dirk Bogarde), a cocky middle-class young man, uses a gun to hold up psychiatrist Dr Clive Esmond (Alexander Knox) outside Esmond's affluent home, but the doctor overpowers Clemmons.

Arriving home from Paris, Esmond's wife Glenda (Alexis Smith) is taken aback to discover Clemmons staying in their home as a household guest. To avoid being turned over to the police, Clemmons has agreed to stay, acting as a human guinea-pig subject to Esmond's psychoanalysis, which aims to release him from his criminal recidivism. Glenda has reservations about Clemmons and behaves in a cold, aloof manner towards him.

Clemmons undergoes regular analysis with Esmond, who is determined to get to the root of his criminality. In between these sessions, he goes riding with Glenda. Although at first indifferent to him, she soon finds herself growing attracted to him. With a fellow criminal in town, Clemmons leaves the house one night and steals some jewellery. A police inspector later interviews him about the crime, but he denies having committed it. After a while, Clemmons takes Glenda to the Metro, a hipster nightclub in Soho, where her conflicted attraction to him deepens. The next day, Glenda admonishes Clemmons for his violent behaviour towards a house-maid, Sally (Patricia McCarron), but their argument ends with a passionate clinch which indicates the beginning of an affair between them.

Initially oblivious, Esmond eventually finds his wife in a compromising position with Clemmons. Glenda's ambivalent feelings plague her. Back at the Metro club with Clemmons, he tosses a careless remark Glenda's way and this overwhelms her. As they begin their journey home, she is driving recklessly and out of control. A police car pursues them, but they manage to escape it.

Sally's fiancé pays Esmond a visit to complain about the abuse she has had to endure from Clemmons and threatens to tell the police. No charges are pressed and Clemmons finds out that this is due to Esmond buying the man off with £100. He reacts by carrying out another robbery. When questioned by the police, Esmond ends up lying on behalf of Clemmons. A cunning ploy, this results in Clemmons pouring out a dramatic account of his tyrannical father, whom he deeply despised. As a boy, Clemmons stole and his father consequently turned him in to the authorities. Frank vowed revenge on his father when he was released, but was then given a beating. His father died shortly thereafter, and his mother blamed him. Clemmons admits that he prayed for his father's death and has seen himself as worthy of punishment ever since. Esmond concludes that since his father's death, Clemmons has had to provide his own punishment for the rest of his life.

Esmond soon begins acting like a father figure towards Clemmons. The two enjoy carefree activities together; Glenda grows intensely jealous. She asks Clemmons to elope with her. However, with Esmond's psychiatric experiment over and his patterns of behaviour understood, Clemmons decides to turn himself in to the police. Glenda hysterically rushes to Esmond, claiming that Clemmons has assaulted her. Esmond goes upstairs with a gun. A shot is heard and Esmond returns claiming that he has killed Clemmons. Glenda is heartbroken and ends up declaring her love for Clemmons. She then finds out that although there was a gunshot, Clemmons had not been in the room, he had already left. She goes after him in her car and comes upon him walking. She tells him to get into the car. He does and she subsequently drives off high speed. Highly distressed, Glenda swerves to avoid a lorry, but crashes the car. Clemmons survives, but Glenda dies in the wreckage.

Cast

Production notes

Due to his alleged ties with the US Communist Party, the blacklisted Joseph Losey moved to London and began work on The Sleeping Tiger, his first British feature film. Despite being in England, he faced more problems. The British director Victor Hanbury, who had not directed a film since Hotel Reserve in 1944, allowed Losey to use Hanbury's name as an alias. The American stars, Alexis Smith and Alexander Knox, were fearful of how appearing in Losey's film would affect their Hollywood careers.

The Sleeping Tiger was the beginning of Losey's partnership with Dirk Bogarde, whom he later directed in The Servant, King & Country, Modesty Blaise and Accident, and with editor Reginald Mills who edited The Servant and King & Country.

Reception

According to Kinematograph Weekly the film was a "money maker" at the British box office in 1954.

References

  1. Caute, David (1994). Joseph Losey. Oxford University Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-0-19-506410-0.
  2. The Sleeping Tiger at IMDb.
  3. "The Anglo Amalgamated Story". Kine Weekly. 31 December 1959. pp. 4–5.
  4. "Victor Hanbury". IMDb. Retrieved 2 March 2017.
  5. Caute, David, Joseph Losey: A Revenge on Life, 1994, p. 121
  6. Billings, Josh (16 December 1954). "Other monkey makers". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 9.

External links

Films directed by Joseph Losey
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