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(aka 'Murder on Monday')

directed by Ralph Richardson

UK 1952

 

Home at Seven is a 1952 British mystery drama film directed by and starring Ralph Richardson. It also featured Margaret Leighton, Jack Hawkins, Campbell Singer and Michael Shepley. It was based on the play Home at Seven by R. C. Sherriff. The film remains Richardson's only work as a film director. It follows a man who returns to his suburban home one evening to discover that he has been missing for 24 hours, despite not remembering the 'lost' day.

***

Reprising his role in R.C. Sherriff's West End stage hit, Ralph Richardson stars as a staid London bank clerk whose inexplicable amnesia leaves him without an alibi in the aftermath of a murder; Jack Hawkins stars as his doctor, and Margaret Leighton his equally perplexed wife.

This 1952 suspense feature saw Richardson heading an outstanding cast, as well as taking on the mantle of director for the first and only time in his career, with Guy Hamilton (best known for Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever) as assistant director; the result is a taut, compelling and very human drama that retains a gripping sense of mystery right up to its conclusion. Home at Seven is presented here in a brand-new transfer from the original film elements.

When David Preston returns home at seven, his distraught wife tells him that he did not come home at seven - or at any other time - the previous evening. In fact, he has no idea where he could have been; he recalls nothing between the time he left the bank on Monday and his arrival home that following evening. His doctor is inclined at first to treat it lightly, but everything changes when it emerges that during Preston's 'lost day', a murder and robbery have taken place.

Posters

Theatrical Release: March 17th, 1952

 

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DVD Review: Network - Region 2 - PAL

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Distribution

Network

Region 2 - PAL

Runtime 1:22:18 (4% PAL speedup)
Video

1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 6.5 mb/s
PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate

Audio English 2.0
Subtitles None
Features Release Information:
Studio: Network

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Edition Details:
• Image Gallery
• Original Pressbook PDF

DVD Release Date: June 23rd, 2014
Slim, transparent Amaray Case

Chapters 12

 

 

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Comments

Wow - great film. And Ralph Richardson's only directorial effort! Home at Seven offers a very odd - and highly interesting topic. Losing 24-hours of your life can be totally unsettling. Very dialogue-driven - this is a thinking person's mystery. This adds to the honest realism the film exudes. Richardson's character is a wonderful, mild-mannered, sweetheart of a guy transferring his frustrations at his amnesia even more uncomfortably to the viewer. 

Another competent and watchable, very reasonably-priced, single-layered SD PAL transfer from Network out of the UK. There is a bit of softness in the image, but it is reasonably consistent which may indicate that it is accurate to the source. The transfer is described as a 'brand-new transfer from the original film elements.' There are no fatal flaws with the video.

Standard Dolby audio transfer but the score composed by Malcolm Arnold (The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, The Bridge On the River Kwai, Island in the Sun, Stolen Face, Hobson's Choice) definitely suits the film. There are no subtitles on the region 2, PAL, disc.

Extras include an image gallery and some, interesting, pressbook PDF information at the root of the SD disc (accessible via PC).

Home at Seven was surprisingly better than I was anticipating. Well worth a purchase and certainly a film I will revisit. Go for it!

  - Gary Tooze

 


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DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

Distribution

Network

Region 2 - PAL

 



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