I was taken aback, during the pre-credit sequence of what was being shown as a David Lean rarity, to discover that I recognised some of the shots -- this 'obscure quota quickie' had actually appeared previously on BBC television. I was also surprised by how much more enjoyable I found it this time round: apparently I originally voted "The Ghost Camera" 4/10, which now seems far too harsh. It's amazing what a difference it makes seeing the same film again under cinema conditions when wide awake, instead of watching it on a small portable TV during a dead-of-night broadcast while struggling to keep one's eyes open... and in the case of this particular film, it turns out to make a big difference actually catching the first five minutes!
It's an interesting choice to make the protagonist a socially inept, not to mention physically unimpressive, shop-owner rather than a clean-cut heroic type. When he finally (somewhat inexplicably -- is he just pretending to get shot here?) defeats the villain in a knock-down fight, his first reaction is "Did you know you broke my glasses?" He is, however, brighter than he looks, however ridiculous he may appear staggering around a lady's bedroom in shirt-tails, socks and suspenders...
I still find it rather hard to warm to the character, unfortunately. With his officious little ways -- when he jumps up in Court I instinctively sympathise with the Coroner's annoyance -- and his annoying verbal tics, he is an effective caricature of the fussy bespectacled type that normally appears as adult antagonist/victim in children's stories of the period, but his quirkiness is more often simply irritating than amusing. He is perhaps most sympathetic during the short section of the plot during which he becomes suspicious of the girl and we know that she is trying to mislead him; but this potentially fruitful aspect of the plot with the two at cross-purposes lasts only about a scene and a half, to be followed by some rather clumsily-staged thrills in the 'Norman Arches' (the heroine seems much more terrified by tripping over in the dark than by the subsequent discovery that this obstacle was a dead body!) The other problem I had with the film was its obviously primitive sound techniques: not so much the actual quality of the recording, but the sections of dead silence interrupted by blaring bursts of would-be dramatic music to telegraph events, and the thundering footsteps on the sound stages.
I wasn't so actively impressed by Ida Lupino's acting here as I was by her performance in "Money for Speed", filmed by Vorhaus earlier the same year, but it's a more conventional part. John Mills' presence is I suspect the reason why the BBC were showing the film that Christmas, but his is a fairly minor role, and in this case I feel the performance was created largely by the framing/editing -- David Lean's contribution rather than Mills'? Still, the film is original, with the contorted plot making more sense than at first appears, as the climax ties ingeniously back to the beginning; characters behaving strangely and/or actors appearing ill at ease turn out to be people who are not what they seem, and there is a fine supporting cast providing humorous effect. "The Ghost Camera" isn't entirely successful, not least in its sensation-seeking but largely inappropriate title, but given its financial constraints it has a fairly good try.
