Produced and directed by the Boulting Brothers, Thunder Rock (1942) predates most of the films that make up this brief war-related trend. Like many of these dramas, it features supernatural characters who influence the fates or moral choices of the living and a protagonist in need of a second chance because of the war. Though released in 1942, the film is set in 1939, just prior to the entry of England into the war. Crusading journalist and anti-isolationist David Charleston has given up warning Europe about the threat of fascist and totalitarian governments in Italy, Japan, and Germany. His insights and predictions fall on deaf ears because of the apathy and indifference of the people. He has retreated to Wisconsin, where he has taken a position as a lighthouse keeper on remote Thunder Rock. When the civil servants at the nearby naval station notice an odd financial discrepancy in their payment ledgers, they trace it to Charleston, who has not been cashing his paychecks. His superiors board a pontoon biplane piloted by Charleston's level-headed pal Streeter to check on the former journalist who refuses any contact with the outside world.
In a heart-to-heart with Streeter, Charleston argues over the pointlessness of fighting fascism when so few will listen. In addition, he admits that he has been obsessing over a placard commemorating an 1849 shipwreck in which a steamer carrying immigrants from the Old World sank only yards from Thunder Rock. All 60 people on board, including Captain Joshua Stuart, were lost. After Streeter and his companions leave, Charleston pours over the names of the passengers listed in an old manifest left behind in the lighthouse. As he concentrates on the names, he ponders the fates of the dead and conjures an elaborate fantasy in which he interacts with them. His main conduit to the past is the ghost of the ship's captain, who criticizes Charleston's misplaced idealism regarding the immigrants. Charleston's imaginings about the immigrants romanticizes them as the salt of the earth, who journeyed to America to build a good life. Captain Stuart reveals their true stories through a series of flashbacks, showing them as troubled people who were running away from Europe to escape persecution. The revelations about the long-dead immigrants cause Charleston to rediscover his will to live--and to fight.
The storyline was based on a 1939 play by Robert Ardrey. Though much of the weighty dialogue about moral responsibility to mankind's future and commitment to just causes was retained, director Roy Boulting and scriptwriters Bernard Miles and Jeffrey Dell opened up the material and made it cinematic. The exposition regarding Charleston's former commitment to his anti-fascist crusade was flushed out to include a well-paced montage chronicling his failed efforts to rouse the nations of Europe against the coming war. Also added was the light-hearted opening sequence in which a string of civil servants eager to curry favor with their superiors discover that Charleston has not been cashing his checks. The immigrants' back stories were expanded, and their plights reflected the Boulting Brothers penchant for social commentary. The lower-class Mr. Briggs, who has ruined his health shoveling coal in the dirty factories of industrial Britain, awaits the birth of his tenth child. Instead of treating the occasion as a joyful event, he frets over another mouth to feed. Suffragette Ellen Kirby details the persecution she has endured for daring to suggest that women could work outside the home and contribute something useful to society, a relevant message in 1942 considering that women were needed in the war effort.
Particularly cinematic was the depiction of the lighthouse, which used Expressionist lighting, unusual compositions, and odd camera angles to suggest an eerie atmosphere appropriate for other-worldly encounters. The round staircase that leads to the top of the lighthouse casts bar shadows against the wall, which visually suggests that Charleston is trapped on Thunder Rock by his internal torment. Shadows dance across his face as he silently waits for the arrival of Captain Stuart, who casts an ominous shadow against the wall, signifying his ghostly identity.
Director Roy Boulting wanted the immigrants to look like flesh and blood, not like ethereal or transparent spirits. But, he also wanted them to look different from the living characters. He consulted cinematographer Mutz Greenbaum, who recommended they tilt the set a few degrees to depict the immigrants at a slight angle. The floor of the set was tilted 12 degrees--just enough to create an odd perspective and to cause the actors to walk slightly off center. The effect was unsettling to viewers, particularly in long shots. For his clever use of filmmaking techniques, Roy Boulting won the New York Film Critics Award for best direction.
The Boulting Brothers began their careers in the British film industry in the mid-1930s. When John Boulting returned from the Spanish Civil War, he and Roy formed Charter Films to produce and direct their own projects, becoming life-long champions of independent filmmaking. During the war, Roy joined the Army Film Unit, where he directed propaganda documentaries, including the Academy Award-winning Desert Victory (1943). Roy was granted six months leave to direct Thunder Rock, suggesting the perceived importance of the film to the war effort. Released in 1942, just months after America's entry into World War II, the film's anti-isolationist message was designed to shore up the Allied commitment to the war effort.
Thunder Rock reflects the Boultings' penchant for socially meaningful films. They disliked trite escapism and spent their lives making films they felt exhibited social relevance and significance. Like other films from this early stage of their career, Thunder Rock was marked by a moral earnestness and passionate commitment to the issues at hand. Later, during the 1950s, the Boultings grew increasingly cynical, and they turned to satirical comedies to criticize Britain's ineffectual social institutions. Whatever the tone or genre, they never abandoned their roles as critical commentators on society or world events.
The Boultings gained a reputation for working with Britain's best actors, often before they became famous. Thunder Rock stars Michael Redgrave as the protagonist and features James Mason in the secondary role as Streeter. Redgrave excelled at playing neurotic but sympathetic idealists, and crusading journalist David Charleston fit his star image. Redgrave offers a controlled performance that ran the gamut from repressing emotion to railing loudly to the ghostly immigrants about fighting for their beliefs. James Mason stands out in an early role that took advantage of his melodic voice and rakish charm. Within a couple of years, Mason would become a British matinee idol in a series of melodramas for Gainsborough Pictures in which he was cast as the handsome cad who is cruel but irresistible to women. Beloved British character actor Finlay Currie adds weight to the role of the wise, old sea captain, Joshua Stuart, who might otherwise have been a mere stereotype. Also notable is young Lilli Palmer, who costars as Melanie Kurtz, the daughter of an immigrant doctor.
Well-plotted, well-acted, and tightly directed, Thunder Rock reveals the style and talents of Roy and John Boulting, who stood among Britain's most respected filmmakers for four decades.
Producer: John Boulting for Charter Films
Director: Roy Boulting
Screenplay: Bernard Miles and Jeffrey Dell based on the play by Robert Ardrey
Cinematography: Mutz Greenbaum
Editor: Roy Boulting
Art Director: Duncan Sutherland
Music: Hans May
Costume Designer: Honoria Plesch
Cast: David Charleston (Michael Redgrave), Streeter (James Mason), Ellen Kirby (Barbara Mullen), Melanie Kurtz (Lilli Palmer), Captain Joshua Stuart (Finlay Currie), Dr. Kurtz (Frederick Valk), Ted Briggs (Frederick Cooper), Anne-Marie (Sybille Binder), Mrs. Briggs (Jean Shepherd), Robert (Barry Morse), Harry (George Carney), Chairman of Directors (Miles Malleson), Flanning (Brian Herbert), Mr. Kirby (A.E. Matthews).
BW-107m. Closed Captioning.
by Susan Doll
