A fine film with Robert Newton acting well in an ensemble for once. He is a signalman at Newhaven docks where trains were loaded onto ferries to cross the Channel to Dieppe (hence the title of Simenon's original novel) who sees a man pushed into the harbour and rescues not the man but a suitcase holding £5000. He is about to phone the police when the Stationmaster reprimands him for not operating a signal on time and so, step-by-step, he considers keeping the money and his downfall begins. Newton is very good as a man tempted by wealth beyond his dreams- and the limits of his dreams are well-depicted too- but all of the actors are good: Margaret Barton as the daughter having to take on an adult's responsibility, William Hartnell makes the thief and killer a decent man, concerned for his family, Simone Simon as a "radio-active mermaid" in a funfair magic act still has a few illusions left to be stirred by the money. The supporting cast are all convincing- caricatures, sometimes, but never absurd. It's well-directed with some excellent touches and deftly-handled camera-work, giving the atmosphere of a small town on the edge of the world. The only fault is the sometimes over-emphatic music.
14 Reviews
A neglected classic
malcolmgsw2 February 2018
For some reason this film has been unseen for more than 30years.Unshown on TV,unreleased on vhs or DVD.I saw it over 30years ago at the BFI South bank.It is a great film,finally now viewable on the BFI player.Great performance from a restrained Robert Newton,atmospheric photography and taut direction.This film deserves a DVD release so that we can watch it whenever we like,not have to wait whilst it is stuck in a vault.
The life of a signalman
AAdaSC16 October 2018
Railway sigmalman Robert Newton (Bert) witnesses a murder one night whilst at his post. He sees William Hartnell (Jim) push another man to his death into a river. This man was carrying a suitcase and Newton recovers the suitcase to find it full of cash - £5,000 in total. What does Newton do next?
It's quite an entertaining film that is acted well with several story lines intertwining. French carnival performer Simone Simon (Camelia) provides the love interest whilst Hartnell is after the suitcase of cash and is on Newton's tail.
If I found a suitcase with £5,000, I'd keep it. No need to think about that part. How to spend it becomes the issue. What does Newton do.....? ..............Doh!
It's quite an entertaining film that is acted well with several story lines intertwining. French carnival performer Simone Simon (Camelia) provides the love interest whilst Hartnell is after the suitcase of cash and is on Newton's tail.
If I found a suitcase with £5,000, I'd keep it. No need to think about that part. How to spend it becomes the issue. What does Newton do.....? ..............Doh!
"Must have been born in a field that fellah"
hwg1957-102-2657041 April 2021
Warning: Spoilers
A dockside railway signal box worker Bert Mallison accidentally comes into someone else's £5,000. Should he keep the money or give it up to the police? After the money also is criminal Jim Brown. The path Bert chooses leads to fatal consequences. A sterling example of British noir with splendid black and white cinematography from Otto Heller and firm direction from Lance Comfort. Mallison and Brown are not cardboard characters but have real depth and you sympathise with them as you feel the hands of fate squeezing them.
There is a wealth of British acting talent that that enriches the film. It is an eminently watchable cast. Standing out for me is Robert Newton as Mallison, wanting to spread himself out from the signal box that metaphorically shuts his life in and that of his daughter and seeing a precarious way to do it, takes it. Also impressive was Margaret Barton as young Betty, holding her own in such a good gallery of character players.
A gripping and moving tale that is like a lot of British crime films of the 40's and 50's, unjustly neglected.
There is a wealth of British acting talent that that enriches the film. It is an eminently watchable cast. Standing out for me is Robert Newton as Mallison, wanting to spread himself out from the signal box that metaphorically shuts his life in and that of his daughter and seeing a precarious way to do it, takes it. Also impressive was Margaret Barton as young Betty, holding her own in such a good gallery of character players.
A gripping and moving tale that is like a lot of British crime films of the 40's and 50's, unjustly neglected.
Hidden Gem - Temptation Harbour
arthur_tafero3 August 2022
This is a hidden gem of film noir. Not the usual fare of hard-nosed gangsters plugging each other with lead, but a much simpler story of a decent man caught up in the understandable lure of easy money. Robert Newton (Treasure Island) plays a widowed harbor bridge man who lives alone with his adolescent daughter in simple surroundings. He witnesses a murder and tries to rescue the victim. Instead, he dredges up a valise with 5000 pounds; quite a sum in those days. From here there are many unforseen complications, including a very pleasant romance with a circus performer (Simone Simon, who was the original Cat Woman). That would have been more than enough complications for any man, but there are many other forces at play here. The murderer, the police, and a man's conscience. It is interesting to note which of these is the most prominent. Very good viewing.
Harbour Lite
writers_reign17 August 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This English version of Henri Decoin's L'Homme de Londres - both based on a Simenon novel - outperformed Brighton Rock at the English box office back in 1947 and some 60 years later it holds up much better than BR if only because it's less risible - no Dickie Attenborough heading up a gang of pensioners here, just Bobbie Newton personifying decency under threat and a choice group of supporting actors aiding and abetting. Margaret Barton who was a memorable Beryl in Brief Encounter weighs in with more solid work as Newton's daughter whilst the female lead, Simone Simon more or less phones in her role from La Bete Humaine with a passable English accent. Charles Victor, Irene Handl, William Hartnell, Kathleen Harrison, Leslie Dwyer and Gladys Henson are all solid and the film is only let down by the odd stretching of credibility - Barton picks the exact moment that Hartnell is passing to give Newton's address loudly and clearly to Simon and Hartnell finds it impossible to get out of a locked shed, albeit ramshackle. On balance a reasonably satisfying rarely screened movie.
Is Decency Real?
boblipton30 June 2021
Robert Newton has been a railroad night signalman, stuck in a box for eight hours a night for twenty years. His wife died three years ago, and he's trying to raise their daughter, Margaret Barton. One night he sees two men get into a fight in the yards, and one of them goes down. Both disappear, but he recovers the suitcase they were fighting over. There are five thousand pounds in small bills in it. He takes it home, determined to take it to the police, but on his way, there are too many temptations: a five-pound smoking pipe.... well, easy enough to stick with his old one, but there are other temptations.
Can decency survive in a Film Noir world? Oh, easy enough for someone like Bogart, I suppose, who's sampled the world and found it wanting, or Robert Mitchum, who can barely open his eyes to see, let alone want. But what is a little man like Robert Newton to do? He seems to be unaware there is anything outside his poor, little world, until he finds his daughter scrubbing floors in a butcher shop, the butcher's wife shouting at her, and he realizes that with this money, she doesn't have to do that. She can have that new dress, they can go to the fair and see Simone Simon, the Atomic Mermaid, and maybe he can have her too....
There's something sleazy and slipshod about the best of British film noir that makes it much more compelling; there's an air of desperation about it, of little men slipping through the cracks that the relative richness of American noir never noticed, outside of a few like Gordon Wiles' THE GANGSTER. With supporting players like William Hartnell and Marcel Dalio, this one has it.
Can decency survive in a Film Noir world? Oh, easy enough for someone like Bogart, I suppose, who's sampled the world and found it wanting, or Robert Mitchum, who can barely open his eyes to see, let alone want. But what is a little man like Robert Newton to do? He seems to be unaware there is anything outside his poor, little world, until he finds his daughter scrubbing floors in a butcher shop, the butcher's wife shouting at her, and he realizes that with this money, she doesn't have to do that. She can have that new dress, they can go to the fair and see Simone Simon, the Atomic Mermaid, and maybe he can have her too....
There's something sleazy and slipshod about the best of British film noir that makes it much more compelling; there's an air of desperation about it, of little men slipping through the cracks that the relative richness of American noir never noticed, outside of a few like Gordon Wiles' THE GANGSTER. With supporting players like William Hartnell and Marcel Dalio, this one has it.
Robert Newton looking like himself.
mark.waltz18 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Usually, he's covered in grime or heavy wigs, makeup or period costumes, but in this, he's a basically decent modern widower, struggling to make a living to raise daughter Margaret Barton whom he is firm with, but loving. One night while working as the third shift railway signal man, he witnesses a man being tossed into a local large body of water, and after diving in to try to save him comes out and finds a suitcase Left behind which is filled with bank notes. Newton is now stalked by the killer, William Hartnell, and picks up the abused carnival worker Simone Simon whom he falls in love with.
The tensions build in this film as Hartnell continues to appear out of the blue, scaring Barton into near hysterics (a genuinely chilling scene) and later turning up in Newton's waterfront fishing shack. This is an interesting British neo noir where realistic looking countryside villages look like the real deal, giving me the hint that this was done on location rather than in a studio. The acting is quite realistic with Barton's fear seeming to be from the gut.
The tension builds to a chilling twist towards the end, greatly aided by the advanced technology that the British studios had mastered and that American filmmakers wouldn't achieve until the rise of independent producers a decade after this was made. Ms. Simon is usually an actress whose voice grates on my nerves, but she's quite different here even though the voice is the same. It ends up being the film performance for Newton that has to be seen because he's not going for the Lon Chaney thousand faces look here. He is as he is, and that requires real acting, not hammy over emoting.
The tensions build in this film as Hartnell continues to appear out of the blue, scaring Barton into near hysterics (a genuinely chilling scene) and later turning up in Newton's waterfront fishing shack. This is an interesting British neo noir where realistic looking countryside villages look like the real deal, giving me the hint that this was done on location rather than in a studio. The acting is quite realistic with Barton's fear seeming to be from the gut.
The tension builds to a chilling twist towards the end, greatly aided by the advanced technology that the British studios had mastered and that American filmmakers wouldn't achieve until the rise of independent producers a decade after this was made. Ms. Simon is usually an actress whose voice grates on my nerves, but she's quite different here even though the voice is the same. It ends up being the film performance for Newton that has to be seen because he's not going for the Lon Chaney thousand faces look here. He is as he is, and that requires real acting, not hammy over emoting.
Lance Comfort and Robert Newton together again ...
happytrigger-64-39051726 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
... since "Hatter's Castle". Here, Robert Newton plays a more modest character, a railway employee who witnesses a fight between two men, one falling in the port, he tries to save him but only finds a suitcase with 5000 pounds in it. Newton hides it and changes a few details in his life for bringing some hapiness to his daughter. He meets a beautiful showgirl in a fair (Simone Simon, still so delicious), and they make plans for the future. But Newton has some fit of anger and finally ruins everything. "Temptation Harbour" is rather noir melo, so the story floats too much to my taste. Not the best Lance Comfort I've seen recently ("Hatter's Castle", "Daughter of Darkness", "Silent Dust"), but the casting is great from Robert Newton to Simone Simon, special mention to Marcel Dalio (genius as a former french cynical policeman) and William Hartnell as the badman with a frightening face.
Remake of a French noir
blanche-23 November 2021
A real downer starring Robert Newton, Simone Simon, Marcel Dalio, and Margaret Barton.
Newton plays a train signalman, Bert Mallison. One night he witnesses a fight between two men, one of whom is pushed into the water. Mallison goes out to try and save him, but only recovers the man's suitcase. It's loaded with money.
Mallison plans on calling the police, but when his boss yells at him, he changes his mind. He goes home and hides it. He doesn't touch the money, but since it's there, he dips into his savings to buy new clothes for his daughter (Barton) and take her to an amusement park.
At the amusement park, they attend the show The Vanishing Mermaid. She is Camelia (Simone Simon) in a bathing suit who is dunked in water and disappears. When Mallison observes her boss being abusive, he runs in to protect her. Later, he runs into her at the pub. She is very kind to Betty, his daughter, who gives her their address.
Unfortunately, Betty is overheard by Brown (Hartnell), the thief who killed the man and wants the suitcase. He is already suspicious of Mallison - after all, he had a birdseye view of the proceedings and seems to be throwing money around.
A French police officer, Dupre (Marcel Dalio) has come to England to recover the money, which is from a casino heist. So he is putting pressure on a desperate Brown.
The situation becomes complicated when Camelia becomes involved and finds out about the money.
This is a very good film, a real noir, the story of a lonely widower trying to be a single dad who sees two glittering baubles - money and a woman - and fights with his conscience so he can have both. Both mean trouble.
Robert Newton is excellent and sympathetic as Mallison, and Barton does a wonderful job as his daughter. The beautiful, seductive Simon is convincing as a cool, ruthless golddigger. All of the acting is very effective.
For a bit of trivia, Margaret Barton, despite looking like a young teen in this film was 21 at the time and often played younger roles due to her size. Born in 1926, she was married to actor Raymond James, for 47 years, until his death. In 2018, at the age of 92, she married again. She and her husband are believed to be Britain's oldest newlyweds.
Newton plays a train signalman, Bert Mallison. One night he witnesses a fight between two men, one of whom is pushed into the water. Mallison goes out to try and save him, but only recovers the man's suitcase. It's loaded with money.
Mallison plans on calling the police, but when his boss yells at him, he changes his mind. He goes home and hides it. He doesn't touch the money, but since it's there, he dips into his savings to buy new clothes for his daughter (Barton) and take her to an amusement park.
At the amusement park, they attend the show The Vanishing Mermaid. She is Camelia (Simone Simon) in a bathing suit who is dunked in water and disappears. When Mallison observes her boss being abusive, he runs in to protect her. Later, he runs into her at the pub. She is very kind to Betty, his daughter, who gives her their address.
Unfortunately, Betty is overheard by Brown (Hartnell), the thief who killed the man and wants the suitcase. He is already suspicious of Mallison - after all, he had a birdseye view of the proceedings and seems to be throwing money around.
A French police officer, Dupre (Marcel Dalio) has come to England to recover the money, which is from a casino heist. So he is putting pressure on a desperate Brown.
The situation becomes complicated when Camelia becomes involved and finds out about the money.
This is a very good film, a real noir, the story of a lonely widower trying to be a single dad who sees two glittering baubles - money and a woman - and fights with his conscience so he can have both. Both mean trouble.
Robert Newton is excellent and sympathetic as Mallison, and Barton does a wonderful job as his daughter. The beautiful, seductive Simon is convincing as a cool, ruthless golddigger. All of the acting is very effective.
For a bit of trivia, Margaret Barton, despite looking like a young teen in this film was 21 at the time and often played younger roles due to her size. Born in 1926, she was married to actor Raymond James, for 47 years, until his death. In 2018, at the age of 92, she married again. She and her husband are believed to be Britain's oldest newlyweds.
Robert Newton helplessly but sympathetically lost in the grips of his own weakness
clanciai25 September 2020
This is a typical bleak Georges Simenon almost documentary and very "noir" story of very simple and normal people that are cruelly played out by destiny to fatal ordeals. It's a very unusual and different kind of role for Robert Newton, who manages this difficult part with outstanding excellence. Simone Siomon is also remarkably good, while the ruffian William Hartnell brings all the trouble and gets the worst of it. The story is very reminding of "The Man who Watched Trains Go By", and Robert Newton's character is closely related with Claude Rains' in the later film (1952), that was in colour, but this is all in very black and white, and more in black and more dark than light. What embellishes the story is the beautiful music by Mischa Spoliansky, an oasis of comfort in the awful predicaments, and Margaret Barton as the daughter, the only sunshine in the film, but she never stops shining. The story and film is sad but somehow anyway filled with poetry, for the main feeling of the film is a deep human compassion with unwilling victims of the misfortunes of destiny.
AN MARVELLOUS PERIOD PIECE
czvns-226919 September 2023
Released in 1947 it was overshadowed by Brighton Rock of course.
We were delighted to be instrumental, together with Jonathan Duvall, to arrange a one night screening of the the only print(then at the BFI) of this film at The Silver Screen Cinema Folkestone.
I tried to find some of the locals, kindly assisted by John Gale local fisherman, who had appeared as extras to attend too. This was 2012 and pre-digitising of the print.
Robert Newton was said to be partial to a drink on set!
It is a classic film noir and great shots of the sleepy fishing village that is now a bustling resort. As a Dr. Who fan - it is also interesting to see William Hartnell in a very different role.
We were delighted to be instrumental, together with Jonathan Duvall, to arrange a one night screening of the the only print(then at the BFI) of this film at The Silver Screen Cinema Folkestone.
I tried to find some of the locals, kindly assisted by John Gale local fisherman, who had appeared as extras to attend too. This was 2012 and pre-digitising of the print.
Robert Newton was said to be partial to a drink on set!
It is a classic film noir and great shots of the sleepy fishing village that is now a bustling resort. As a Dr. Who fan - it is also interesting to see William Hartnell in a very different role.
Atmospheric but tiresome
gridoon202422 July 2022
If you've seen the 1943 French film "The Man From London" you do not need to see this one as well, and vice versa. There are some differences between the two films, but they do have one thing in common: short-story material (admittedly a strong story) is padded out to feature length (in this case 102 minutes, which is about 62 minutes longer than it should have been). Robert Newton seems miscast, and Simone Simon's role is largely redundant; the French police inspector is - in both films - very tiresome, taking 5 minutes each time to say a simple sentence. Young Betty (Margaret Barton) is the one bright spot of this film. ** out of 4.
Tempest in a skull
ulicknormanowen13 February 2022
"Temptation harbor" is actually the remake of Henri Decoin's " l'homme de Londres" (1943) one of the twenty or so movies produced by the German La Continentale in the French occupations days.
The American screenplay ,based on Georges Simenon 's book ,has undergone some changes : the hero is a widower whereas in the French movie he had a whole family ; Camelia was a prostitute (with a big heart) whereas she's a "mermaid" at the fair in Lance Comfort's work.
Gone are religion, the colleague in the signal box who mentioned the Bible and the difficulties for man to stay on the straight and narrow .
But the gist of the movie is the same ;both heroes ,with their man-next-door look (Robert Newton is an ideal successor to Fernand Ledoux ) , are haunted by the lure of gain but smitten with remorse ; if religion is absent in Comfort's effort, one attends "a tempest in a skull" a la Victor Hugo : the frames of mind in voice over ,and Robert Newton's face reflect an unbearable feeling of guit.
The character of Camelia was thoroughly rewritten and developed ; one should note that they reverse the countries : the action which took place in France in Simenon 's book and in the first movie is now situated in England: and Camelia is played by French actress Simone Simon who had already two masterpieces under her belt ("Renoir's "la bête humaine" and Tourneur's "cat people") , her character is French although she appears as a stateless person ,not really a femme fatale ,who dreams of a little home in her native land .
Decoin 's movie focused on the atmosphere ;Comfort's effort is more action with a good sense of rhythm and scenes full of contrasts (the opening scene is the fair ,and the hero's daughter and his new love get along very well (not the usual jealous cliché)) ; the scene in the shack by the sea where only the lighter shows the face is even superior to Decoin's .
Both Decoin's and Comfort's version sufficed ,although Bela Tarr's 3rd adaptation turned it into highbrow stuff in 2008.
The American screenplay ,based on Georges Simenon 's book ,has undergone some changes : the hero is a widower whereas in the French movie he had a whole family ; Camelia was a prostitute (with a big heart) whereas she's a "mermaid" at the fair in Lance Comfort's work.
Gone are religion, the colleague in the signal box who mentioned the Bible and the difficulties for man to stay on the straight and narrow .
But the gist of the movie is the same ;both heroes ,with their man-next-door look (Robert Newton is an ideal successor to Fernand Ledoux ) , are haunted by the lure of gain but smitten with remorse ; if religion is absent in Comfort's effort, one attends "a tempest in a skull" a la Victor Hugo : the frames of mind in voice over ,and Robert Newton's face reflect an unbearable feeling of guit.
The character of Camelia was thoroughly rewritten and developed ; one should note that they reverse the countries : the action which took place in France in Simenon 's book and in the first movie is now situated in England: and Camelia is played by French actress Simone Simon who had already two masterpieces under her belt ("Renoir's "la bête humaine" and Tourneur's "cat people") , her character is French although she appears as a stateless person ,not really a femme fatale ,who dreams of a little home in her native land .
Decoin 's movie focused on the atmosphere ;Comfort's effort is more action with a good sense of rhythm and scenes full of contrasts (the opening scene is the fair ,and the hero's daughter and his new love get along very well (not the usual jealous cliché)) ; the scene in the shack by the sea where only the lighter shows the face is even superior to Decoin's .
Both Decoin's and Comfort's version sufficed ,although Bela Tarr's 3rd adaptation turned it into highbrow stuff in 2008.
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