I think that the other reviewer rather prefers the overstatement of todays slashers eg "Friday The 13th",to more understated horror films.During the Second world war a number of films were produced which dealt with the afterlife.the most famous being "A Matter of life And Death".People wanted to believe that their sacrifice was not in vain and that though left behind could look forward to meeting their deceased friends and relatives in the next world.This is one such film only with a rather creepy malevolent streak,very reminiscent of the films of Val Lewton which were to follow.It is true that many scenes are understated,but that was the way things were in those days.Death was common place,after all you could be killed by a bomb hitting the cinema in which you were watching it before the end of this film.You really cannot judge films of a different era by standards of today.This film was totally unknown to me before i saw it and i would say that if you are interested in the genre this is certainly worth catching up on.
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malcolmgsw5 June 2010
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Brucey_D13 April 2020This film is variously known by various titles such as 'Passing Clouds', 'The Spell of Amy Nugent", "Ghost Story", and "Spellbound". It was originally known by the last of these but when it was later released in the USA the title was revised to avoid confusion with the 1945 Hitchcock "Spellbound". I'd never heard of it before I saw it. As other reviews have noted this film is -to modern eyes- rather slow paced and something of a period piece. However to a great extent I wouldn't expect anything else; after all this film is now nearly eighty years old, much closer to the start of film as a medium than anything else. The subject matter is unfamiliar to most and the social context is quite literally another world. I think it is an interesting film because it explores a subject area which doesn't lend itself to film-making, not without dissolving into the realms of fantasy, which is largely avoided here. I've only scored it 6/10 mostly because it won't appeal to modern tastes, partly because the print that had been used for the video transfer I saw was in diabolical condition. One or two badly repaired film breaks are almost inevitable in an old print but this had at least half a dozen which I found somewhat intrusive. At least they were not at the most critical junctures. This isn't a cinematic masterpiece by any means but if you can overlook its shortcomings it is at heart a competently made and intrinsically interesting film.
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howardmorley7 March 2013I awarded this film 6/10, whose title was "Passing Clouds" on www.youtube.com.I have to agree with another reviewer that it was produced at a funereal pace and Vera Lindsay who played Diana Hilton spoke her lines in a very slow hypnotic fashion that I too found myself nodding off.That is a pity as this was my first viewing of this rare 1941 film.Again I have to agree that with Britain suffering at the height of "The Blitz" in 1941 and with people losing loved ones, there was the feeling that the producers wanted to invoke some comfort for the survivors left behind by the recently deceased.Personally I would have thought that a good comedy would have been more apt, to raise Britain's morale.At least there was a comic Irish gardener dispensing his home grown philosophy.
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Leofwine_draca13 June 2021PASSING CLOUDS is a very slow moving spiritualism drama made at just the right time - 1941's Britain, where audiences would have been effected by a huge and increasing death toll around the globe as Hitler's forces wreaked havoc both at home and abroad. The simplistic storyline sees a man losing his love and turning to a medium to contact here, but things go awry as he is irresistably drawn to the dark side. It's a very talky little number, written by comedy legend Miles Malleson no less, featuring familiar faces in the forms of Irene Handl, Feli Aylmer and Hay Petrie. I love spiritualism and spend a lot of time reading up on it, but this is more an essay than a film and it's too lecturing to entertain.
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osieckiii9 April 2021OMG! This film started off slow albeit with hope. Then it slowed down some more ~ then just fizzled out all together. Obviously the writers/directors/producers et al somehow saw fit to avoid every conceivable, reasonable plot and storyline to create any kind of 'film' whatsoever. How many lame questions were left unanswered? Then this feeble piece just kind of limped off into the credits. Did the movie ever actually end? ~ 'cause I certainly missed it. Having worked in H~Wood I cannot comprehend how this empty vessel of paste was ever even created let alone invested in and then sailed through all of the flashing RED LIGHTS + DANGER signs through to the big screen. I felt so ashamed having watched it {rather having endured the 1.5 hrs. Of suffering-} that I quickly erased all traces and then took a long hot bath {and washed my hair}. I am still in therapy dealing with the PTSD. LOL Enjoy ~
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brogmiller14 April 2020Directed by someone named John Harlow and released in America as 'The Spell of Amy Benson' so as not to be confused wih Hitchcock's masterpiece this film epitomises the worst of British cinema of the time. Apart from Felix Aylmer there is really no one worth watching. Derek Farr is one-dimensional and Hay Petrie irritating. Frederick Leister puts one in mind of a cricket bat. The 'teddibly, teddibly' acting, leaden direction and lamentable lack of pace combine to make this film a truly tortuous experience. A waste of promising material. Avoid at all costs.
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dbborroughs27 January 2009Low key "horror" film from England concerning a young man who's fiancé dies. Distraught, he turns to spiritualism in order to try and contact his lady love, with complications arising as a result.
I don't know if it was the lateness of the hour or what but this film just didn't click with me. I found it much too talky and much too slow for my tastes. Actually I found it very "British" in its understatement, with the scene where the doctor calmly telling the girls family and fiancé that she has died jaw droppingly unbelievable (You know how I always said she'd never reach the full blossom of womanhood ) I got to a point where I didn't care and tried to just fall asleep. It didn't work but I tried. I'd take a pass. (though the people who recommended this to me were very shocked I didn't like, so your mileage may vary) -
lucyrfisher22 August 2022Derek Farr's fiancee dies and he is heartbroken. Then a friend of the family, Mrs Stapleton, turns up and is full of her latest fancy - spiritualism. She gives a quick run-down of her previous crazes, including a diet of orange-peel and pine nuts. But now she's into "New Thought".
I am ploughing my way thru a long history of New Thought - it started up in the mid-19th century and bundled together Mary Baker Eddy and the Fox Sisters, and I'm sure we'll get to Dale Carnegie in time. In many ways their ideas are still with us.
Fewer of us now try to communicate with the dead, however. Derek is introduced to the rather impressive "Mr Vincent", who gently counters Derek's doubts. Derek is desperate for "proof", and turns up to a seance. It turns out that Derek is the true psychic. He gets in over his head, and neglects his college work and attempts to run the four-minute mile.
There's another girl waiting in the wings, though, a bit of a Joan Hunter-Dunn. Derek Farr is quite good at looking tortured and demonic, in fact he developed into a dependable actor.
The story is based on a book, The Necromancers, by Hugh Benson, a prolific writer and brother of E. F. Benson, who wrote novels in the early 20th century and then struck gold with the "Lucia" books. (The character was described by Anna Chancellor, who played Lucia, as "an awful domineering phony".) The script of Passing Clouds/Spellbound is by Miles Malleson - I wonder how much of the wit is his and how much Benson's? Benson's book was written before World War One, which may explain its somewhat creaky feel.
The film opens with a frightful (Irish?) supposedly comic gardener, but stick with it - or fast forward. -
As a Psychic Medium and Channeller/Trance Medium myself, the spiritual side of this is pretty accurate without all the usual corny tropes. Sadly, it does descend into melodrama and silliness very quickly, and the ending is far too simple if something/some entity has actually taken hold of a physical body. The daft idea of not touching a spirit-person doesn't help either. Spirt is around us all the time, continuously interacting with us.
As usual with this type of horror/fantasy of the spiritual realms, I feel the subject was only partly understood by the writer.
It's a curio of the times and, bearing that in mind, is fairly enjoyable. -
geoffm602953 October 2020Derek Farr at the beginning of his film career didn't do himself any favours with a daft and tedious storyline about spiritualism and his dead fiancée. Farr walks around stricken with grief for most of the time, looking dejected and miserable! That also sums up the mood of the audience! The acting is sub standard and the dialogue is laughable! Films like this gave the British film industry a very bad name! American films were light years ahead in producing films that had energy, excitement and great acting! This film had none of these attributes! Give this film a big miss!
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dancarrison18 April 2024This film must be watched bearing in mind the context. It's 1941 for crying out loud--it's not The Exorcist. Green vomit hadn't yet been invented, thank God. And, furthermore, this is a British film, which means it is even more restrained than an American film. But that's its strength. It is slow, yes, but deeply penetrating because of its pace.
If you get antsy watching actors seated in a room talking; if you crave special effects; if silence bores you, then you probably won't like it. I imagine that you probably would not enjoy classic Victorian novels, either. But I do, and this movie puts me in a similar frame of mind.
Great actors all. Everyone believes in their respective roles. Wonderful dark-room photography, reminiscent of Capra's midnight filming in Arsenic and Old Lace.
Well worth watching.