Cloudburst (1991)

I found this movie disappointing. With a plot like that, in a British movie of this era, and Robert Preston to boot, I had very high hopes.The first half is an extremely sappy love story between the two principals, told against grainy dim backgrounds in night scenes. After the accident Preston all too quickly gets his revenge and even more quickly he is picked up in a super efficient police investigation (there is never another suspect, they latch on to him for no reason).I would have preferred a more abbreviated romance, a longer search for the killers, and at least somewhat realistic detective work.The other scenes of Preston's work as a cryptographer seem to consist of a room of eight nondescript people mumbling to themselves. Is that really how they broke codes in the 50's?? Definitely not a keeper.

It appears not many have seen this film as evidenced by the few reviews. I was surprised that it was as good as it was given it seems few have seen it.Produced by Hammer Films of England, this is fairly light fare for them as they became primarily producers of horror films. Even still, there are some macabre elements to this film (several characters being run over by cars).Preston, as John Graham, is quite believable in his portrayal of an ex-commando for the Resistance, who is indebted to his wife, played very genuinely by Elizabeth Sellars, who also worked alongside him in the Resistance. He credits her for saving his life for refusing to divulge secrets under torture. She limps visibly as a result. They are expecting their 1st child. Tragically one evening she is the victim of a hit and run by murder suspects fleeing from capture. Graham recalls his wife saying (upon hearing of a murder) that her anger would hound the murderer like a cloudburst until she could repay what they had done. So he begins a systematic plan to get revenge on the 2 people who killed his wife.I thought Sellars had quite a beautiful and interesting face - especially her cheekbones. Its a shame she was killed off so early in the film.I think the writers did a good job of evolving the story. They don't reveal all about the Graham's past together and how she got the limp, saved his life, etc. until later. It keeps you intrigued.This is a classic revenge tale. But in light of his past as commando in the Resistance it makes sense. I was surprised that you never really see him rage, but it could be his training in special forces to just "get the job done". I question the likelihood that he would be stupid enough to leave his coded note behind at one of the crime scenes, unless that is part of his "I have nothing to live for" mentality and he is hoping to get caught. Certainly his training should have otherwise prevented this so perhaps it was intentional.All in all, I found this to be very suspenseful, although a little dark in places.

Poss Spoiler - This post-war-time black & white film from England stars Robert Preston (from films Music Man, Beau Geste) as Robert Graham, a married, WW II veteran. Placed in England in 1946, Cloudburst co-stars Elizabeth Sellars, Colin Tapley, Harold Lang, and Lyn Evans. We are shown right at the beginning that he speaks Japanese, French, Spanish, & Italian, and works in the secret Codes/Decryption office in England. All is well until a couple in a car kills someone close to him during a hit and run, then drives off. Determined to get revenge, he goes in search of them, and the chase is on. There WAS a British film also titled "Cloudburst" from 1922, but IMDb and Wikipedia have almost no information on that one. This 1951 film was from the play by Leo Marks, who really did work in the Coding/Encryption office during WW II. Screenplay and direction by Francis Searle. Interesting dilemma near the end, where two suspects who really ARE guilty of separates crimes deny knowing each other, to avoid prosecution. Will justice be done? The ending can be guessed, if one thinks about it, (but they didn't...) Entertaining story, no giant plot-holes. Also quite good quality sound and lighting, which wasn't always prevalent in British films back then.

I read the other two "reviews" here - the first written by someone who seems to have seen a different film than the one actually in front of his eyes, and the other by someone who doesn't really get one of the major plot points. But, this is the IMDb so what else is new.I'd never seen or heard of Cloudburst prior to the recent showing on TCM. It's quite a good little film - well directed by Searle, whose work I don't know at all, with a top-notch score by Frank Spencer, a composer I also don't know. Preston is very good, as are the rest of the players, especially the actor who plays the Inspector. The storytelling is compelling, and there's a surprising complexity in Preston's character. Leo Marks, from whose play this was taken, was a fascinating writer and person - as one of the others points out, he really did work as a decoder during the war - and this isn't the only film he wrote where the central character is a decoder - he also wrote Sebastian, in which Dirk Bogarde plays a decoder. And, of course, Marks gave us the brilliant script to Michael Powell's Peeping Tom.Worth catching if you can find it.