An Inspector Calls (Guy Hamilton, 1954) from the play by J. B. Priestley; Alastair Sim
Priestley has a 'palpable design' on us. It is shown strikingly in the way he brings An Inspector Calls to an end: by showing it to be a fable: Inspector Poole is not 'real', but merely a spirit, like Marley's ghost, brought on stage as a device to bring about a epiphany in the 'real' characters, who are as a result ineluctably changed.
I was wondering throughout why Sim is playing his part so casually, lolling about, looking amused. ... It's because he (the character as well as the actor) knows how it's going to end.
The passage of time has a great deal to do with Priestley's preoccupation with morality—in his case in the narrow sense of socialist politics. The passage of time is important because of what can be learnt from it. In Time and the Conways (play) and Bright Day (novel) it's half a lifetime. In this film(/play) it's the hour during which the inspector 'calls'.
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Garry Gillard | New: 24 February, 2022 | Now: 24 February, 2022