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Poster for The Small Back Room

The Small Back Room

1949 · 107 min

A tense, melancholic character study of a damaged man grappling with addiction and bureaucracy, building to a harrowing bomb disposal.

Genres
Drama, War, Romance
Tagline
Danger! Top Secret!
Overview
As the Germans drop explosive booby-traps on 1943 Britain, the embittered expert who'll have to disarm them fights a private battle with alcohol.

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Genres
Drama, War, Romance
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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • darkstrength 3 of 3
  • melancholicstrength 2 of 3
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
  • romanticstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
slow-burn, 1 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • addiction
  • isolation
  • guilt
  • war
  • redemption
Places
  • big city
  • workplace
  • countryside
Era
period
Audience
adult
Form
  • single location
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence mild
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action3
Horror2
Humour2
Realism8
Romance5
Tension7
Darkness7
Complexity6
Emotional weight7

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Cast

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Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
drama, war, romance
Directed by
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
Written by
Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
Starring
David Farrar, Kathleen Byron, Jack Hawkins, Leslie Banks, Michael Gough, Cyril Cusack, Milton Rosmer, Walter Fitzgerald
Music
Brian Easdale
Cinematography
Christopher Challis
Runtime
107 min
Country
United Kingdom
Languages
Welsh, Czech, Norwegian, French, Polish, English

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