Sun 17 Sept
Sul 17 Medi

UK/1947/91 mins/PG. Dir: George King. With Oskar Homolka, Kenneth Griffith, Muriel Pavlow.

With the recent death of Kenneth Griffith, the country of Wales and the British cinema lost a great talent, a charismatic personality, and an unabashed troublemaker. He brought a combustible mix of intensity and integrity to everything he did, and it was these qualities that made his acting performances so compelling and his documentaries so incendiary. The linking factor between those two careers was a burning desire to get at the truth – as he saw it. Even those who opposed his views could never doubt the utter sincerity of the way Kenneth treated subjects close to his heart.

When Kenneth visited Chapter in 2001 to celebrate his eightieth birthday, one of the films he requested was this taut thriller, in which he first made an indelible mark in films by reprising his stage success as a sadistic blackmailer. His performance was no less influential in what we now know as the British gangster genre than Richard Attenborough’s in Brighton Rock.

This screening will be introduced by film historian Dave Berry.

A retrospective of Kenneth Griffith’s work will form part of this year’s Cardiff Film Festival, which takes place from 8th to 18th November.