“Just because life has been hard on you, you refuse to let it be gentle.” This line from Robert Hamer’s
The Long Memory is directed at the cynical, vengeful ex-con Phillip Davidson (John Mills) but could just as well apply to the majority of film noir protagonists. Framed for murder by a shady ship captain and his associates, including Davidson’s own fiancée Fay (Elizabeth Sellars), Davidson is sent to prison for twelve years; when released, he makes it his mission to find the witnesses who lied to incarcerate him, including Fay, now married to the police superintendent (John McCallum) who orders surveillance of Davidson. Living on an abandoned barge, Davidson becomes a denizen of the foggy docks and a patron of a dilapidated dockside bar, creating a bleak, salty milieu with a foghorn heartbeat reminiscent of Marcel Carné’s
Port of Shadows (1938). Cinematographer Harry Waxman creates stunning compositions of streets at night whenever Davidson’s tailed by the police.
