The October man is directed by Roy Ward Baker and written by Eric Ambler. It stars John Mills, Joan Greenwood, Edward Chapman, Kay Walsh, Joyce Carey, Catherine Lacey, Adrianne Allen and Felix Aylmer. Music is by William Alwyn and cinematography by Erwin Hillier.Following a bus crash that killed a friends child that he was treating to a day out, Jim Ackland (Mills) suffers a brain injury. During his recuperation it's revealed to him that he is prone to amnesia, and even though he's suicidal over the child's death, he's released back into society. Setting up lodgings at a hotel and back to work as an industrial chemist, Jim is functioning well. That is until he financially helps one of the young lady residents of the hotel and becomes the chief suspect when she winds up murdered in a park. Jim has no recollection of committing the crime, but he was in the park…Pulsing with moody atmospherics, this Brit noir – psychological - thriller showcases the best of John Mills and the higher end of the British noir splinter. It's a post war London that's cloaked in shadowy streets, of parks harbouring spectral mists punctured by bulbous lamps, a train station a foreboding but visually stunning presence. Jim Ackland is suicidal and nursing amnesia, yet the hotel where he lives, itself a relic of a London that time forgot, is full of human beings from different ends of the evolutionary scale. It's not a good place for Jim to be, a cuckoos nest of spiteful, suspicious, vengeful, lonely people, Jim in fact, in spite of his problems, appears to be the only sane one there!There is no great "whodunit" to be solved here, some critics have bizarrely complained that the murderer is too obvious! Bizarre because the makers don't try and hide who it is, the film is firmly interested in the human condition, in how members of society react post a heinous crime, and of course how the afflicted antagonist fights his corner when confronted by hostility and his own mental confusion. Roy Ward Baker, for what was his first direction assignment, is more than up for the job of crafting a noir thriller. He has a good eye for the visual traits that often marry up with human feelings or behaviour, of course having someone of Hillier's class on cinematography duty naturally helps him through his debut production.Splendid entertainment. 8/10

Well filmed and acted. The cinematography is first class and enjoyable.I found the story unfortunately a little too obvious (you know who did it immediately) and that it will be resolved in some way in the letter the murdered woman sent.Also you have to suspend disbelief on numerous things...that the police wouldn't search the dead woman's room carefully (and find her love letters) is the most obvious one. There were others (it sure is easy to escape from British cops) but for what movies do you not have to suspend your disbelief a little?It is too bad they couldn't have sharpened up the story just a bit because all the other values are excellent...acting superb camera work etc...It rates a 7--it is leagues better than most of the quota British films of the 50s.RECOMMEND

The film begins with John Mills on a bus, trying to entertain a friend's daughter. Suddenly, as the bus nears a train, it loses control and slams into a wall--killing the girl and leaving Mills with a skull injury so severe he was hospitalized for a year. During that time, he became very depressed and tried to kill himself. However, now that the year has passed, he's discharged and the staff is concerned about his ability to make it on the outside.At first, Mills is very tentative around others and tends to keep to himself at the boarding house while working at a local chemical plant. However, over time he seemed to be coming out of his depression and began dating his boss' sister. Life certainly looks good for him when out of the blue, one of the fellow lodgers at the boarding house is murdered. Due to many coincidences he is accused of the crime. With his head injury and past emotional instability he's a natural suspect though he didn't have any reason for killing her.Much of the rest of the film concerns Mills trying in vain to prove his innocence. The problem is that the police think it's an open and shut case and they refuse to take him seriously--leaving him no choice but to go on the run to prove his innocence.There are many excellent twists and turns (particularly when he discovers who the murder is) and the acting is excellent (particularly that of John Mills). Because it didn't take cheap or easy ways out in the plot and kept me guessing, it really impressed me and is a film I'd heartily recommend.By the way, the little girl at the beginning of the film was Mills' real-life daughter, Juliet! Also, note the cinematography as Mills is on the railway bridge--it's quite a beautiful and impressive scene (especially the first time).

When a bus crashes due to mechanical failure, industrial chemist Jim Ackland survives but suffers a serious head injury that he has not fully recovered from even when he is discharged from hospital. He goes about his life again despite this and winds up in a small hotel. It is here he meets Molly Newman who asks him for financial help and spends a small amount of time with him. When she is found murdered on the common Ackland has no alibi and everyone seems to believe he was the killer. However with his head injury, even Ackland himself cannot be sure that he didn't do it and the gallows beckon.The basic plot sounded like it would be a cross between the "innocent accused out to clear his name" crossed with the "I've got amnesia could I be the killer?" plot devices and I suppose in essence that is just what it is. In that regard it sounded good but what I wasn't prepared for was the totally lethargic delivery crossed with a terminal lack of tension or pace. The story just plods along and it seems a long amount of time is spent in the build up to put detail in place that is never really used. Even after the murder the whole thing moves forward with very little urgency and it is only in the final ten minutes where you feel like lives are at stake here and that things are urgent. By this time though it is too little too late and the whole thing is sorted out far too easily and tidily.The cast can't do a great deal with the material given all these problems. Mills is a sturdy and reliable lead but he just seems a little disturbed by the accusations and you never believe that he is a man pushed close to the edge. Chapman was a strange find for someone who has seen too many Norman Wisdom films and his presence was not that much of a benefit generally. Support from Greenwood, Walsh, Carey and others is all so-so but in fairness, as with all of them, the material didn't give any of them much to work with.Overall this is a familiar story but it is told with such a sleepy pace that it is hard to have interest in the telling. The cast are left to do the best they can but neither they nor the director can get any pace into the film and I just gradually lost interest to the point where a final ten minutes of dramatic music, running and "races against time" weren't enough to save it.