The Man Upstairs

This 1958 psychological drama starring the redoubtable Richard Attenborough (who here does not have that many lines and isn't actually seen a great deal) is a little on the unusual side to say the least.

Practically the entire film takes place in a London boarding house where John Wilson (Attenborough) is one of the residents though it’s only later that we find out his real name is in fact Peter Watson. Wilson/Watson has been staying on the top floor of the building for about three weeks and his neighbors are startled over the man’s increasingly erratic behavior, occasionally even resulting in violence after Wilson has no success in feeding the coin-operated gas-meter in his room. Asking for help he’s brushed off by moody young artist Nicholas (Charles Houston) who feels irritated that Wilson knocks on his door at such a late hour, especially since his model/romantic interest Eunice Blair (Maureen Connell) is staying overnight. Next he knocks really loudly on the door of old spinster Miss Acres (Amy Dalby), incurring the ‘wrath’ of fellow lodger Mr. Pollen (Kenneth Griffith), a prissy busybody who feels that it’s rather rude of Wilson to disturb the frail old lady in her sleep. During the altercation that follows Watson assaults Pollen on the landing and leaves him with a mildly lacerated forehead and broken glasses. At this point other residents in the lodging house are awoken by the ruckus, with Mr. Pollen screaming blue murder (well, not quite) and wanting to call the police. Before he does so he consults brandy-swilling landlady Mrs. Lawrence (the always commanding Patricia Jessel), sporting a hard northern accent and seemingly disappointed (she even applies lipstick and dabs on some perfume before she opens the door) that it’s ‘only’ Pollen who knocked on her door! This is quite a hilarious scene as Mrs. Lawrence clearly seeks some male company but boring old Pollen is no ones idea of an Adonis. Meanwhile Watson keeps hovering around the landing like a truly confused and lost soul – the only sympathy he gets is from downstairs lodger Mrs. Barnes (Dorothy Alison) who recognizes that the man is mentally ill rather than dangerous and thus needs urgent help. Her flat is adjacent to brandy-sodden Mrs. Lawrence's room and later is designated as a base by the police and other residents seeking shelter from ‘maniac’ Watson.

Meanwhile two policemen have arrived: PC Stevens (Edward Judd) and his colleague, a Sergeant (Patrick Jordan) who gets pushed over the railings after a failed attempt to remonstrate with the by now highly unhinged Watson. Enter hard-nosed Inspector Thompson (Bernard Lee) who shows little sympathy for Watson after he sent one of his men plummeting down the landing – his attitude remains at firm loggerheads with conscientious welfare officer Mr. Sanderson (Donald Houston) who tries in vain to convince Thompson that ‘the man upstairs’ needs help and not half of the city’s police force and the press which by now have assembled outside the building bothering him. Thompson wants direct action whilst Sanderson wants to go up to reason with Watson but has his efforts disturbed by the clumsy intervention of the police. Watson also has a gun and continually and almost comically shouts: “I'm not available” (perhaps the film should have been called ‘Not Available’). Only after the arrival of his worried fiancée Helen Gray (Virginia Maskell) do we find out why Wilson uses a pseudonym and why he is suffering from a nervous breakdown….

We have some very good performances on show here. Attenborough received some excellent plaudits at the time but in truth he doesn't do that much as mentioned previously - in fact about a fraction of what we see in BRIGHTON ROCK; with but two main emotions (confusion and shock) on display (the same face we saw on the Brighton Pier climax). It’s Patricia Jessel, Dorothy Allison and Kenneth Griffith who really shine here, of course (and purely from a marketing perspective) their names weren’t a big as that of Dickie Attenborough’s.

THE MAN UPSTAIRS has just been released on Blu-ray and we get an Image Gallery as bonus feature.