Review: The Man Upstairs


Something has caused scientist Sir Richard Attenborough to become manic and extremely agitated. Holed up in a boarding house, he gets all in a tizzy one night and wakes up the other tenants. One of those tenants, busy-body Mr. Pollen (a delightfully prissy Kenneth Griffith) makes the unfortunate mistake of telling him off and is accosted for his troubles. He just wants to be left alone. Mr. Pollen then decides to call the police, and after Attenborough attacks the two bobbies as well, that’s when the real cops turn up, led by a hardened Inspector (Bernard Lee). Also on hand is health care officer Sanderson (Donald Houston), who tries his best to make sure no one else gets hurt. Meanwhile, the other tenants all convene in one room, gossiping amongst themselves. Laurence Harvey-lookalike Charles Houston plays an aloof artist, Patricia Jessel (who looks a bit like Dame Judith Anderson) plays the cynical landlady, Virginia Maskell (who tragically committed suicide at age 31) plays Attenborough’s fiancé, and Dorothy Alison plays Mrs. Barnes, perhaps the only sympathetic person amongst the tenants.


An intensely nervous and increasingly unhinged Sir Richard Attenborough is put to good use in this tense, rock-solid 1958 thriller from director Don Chaffey (Disney’s mediocre “Pete’s Dragon”, the memorable Aussie weepie “The Fourth Wish”) and screenwriter Alun Falconer (“The Informers”/“Underworld Informers”). Attenborough really is a tour-de-force here as a man who is having a very bad time of it and wants to be left the hell alone. It may not be a subtle performance, but you won’t be able to keep your eyes off him.


A good B-movie with a talented cast up and down the line, it loses a small amount of tension and urgency towards the end when the story turns more to the busy-body neighbours than loony Attenborough. Still, Kenneth Griffith, Aussie-born Dorothy Alison, and particularly an excellent, hardened Bernard Lee keep you engaged.


Interesting, mostly tense stuff with not one bad performance amongst the cast, this one’s worth looking out for. Attenborough and Lee are excellent. Well-shot, too in B&W by Gerald Gibbs (“The Green Man”, “The Safecracker”), with terrific use of shadow.


Rating: B-

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