Outward Bound

The 1944 version is so much better

It's very clear from the awkward atmosphere and the way it's acted that this is a movie from the dawn of the sound era. It makes viewing fairly somewhat difficult, but this is such an unique story that it grabs you regardless. The travel to death. Based on a stage play and basically presented that way for the movie version too. Leslie Howard's first US film. And his acting here was so alive! He was almost a juvenile in the way he acted out his frustrations. Refreshing to see him that way.

Shows its age, particularly in the way stage actors handle the dialogue in these early talkies, but the dialogue itself is good--with a touch of poetry--and the eerie dilemma the characters find themselves in often seems like something from a later absurdist play. Leslie Howard and Beryl Mercer are touch, Dudley Digges and Alison Skipworth amusing. Also, the stage direction and the photograph work together nicely to produce some very haunting effects. Also