• Director(s)

    Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

  • Production Year

    1949

  • Release date

    10/12/2023

  • Genre(s)

    Drama, War

  • Approx. running minutes

    107m

  • Cast

    David Farrar, Jack Hawkins, Michael Gough

Film

The Small Back Room

mild threat, alcoholism theme, discrimination

In this noirish British drama from 1949, set during World War II, a brilliant but troubled bomb expert must confront his personal demons after being tasked with investigating a dangerous new German weapon.…

In this noirish British drama from 1949, set during World War II, a brilliant but troubled bomb expert must confront his personal demons after being tasked with investigating a dangerous new German weapon.

Content Advice(May contain spoilers)

threat and horror

language

sex

discrimination

drugs

alcohol and smoking

violence

rude humour

  • Director(s)

    Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

  • Production Year

    1949

  • Release date

    10/12/2023

  • Genre(s)

    Drama, War

  • Approx. running minutes

    107m

  • Cast

    David Farrar, Jack Hawkins, Michael Gough

One or more of the releases in this collection was cut.

mild threat, alcoholism theme, discrimination
Classified Date:
30/11/2023
Version:
2D
Use:
Cinema
Distributor:
Studio Canal
Cuts:
This work had a compulsory cut made. A cut was required to remove a misleading category symbol. Cut made in accordance with BBFC policy.
threat and horror
There is a sustained scene of mild threat and suspense in which a bomb disposal expert attempts to defuse a complex bomb. A woman reads out a radio transcript of another bomb expert’s final moments before the device he was working on exploded. There are also undetailed verbal references to children having been killed by bombs which may have been disguised as toys.
language
Very mild bad language includes ‘damn’, ‘crikey’ and ‘blast’.
sex
A couple are shown kissing and sinking down onto a sofa in a horizontal embrace before being interrupted by a phone call.
discrimination
There is a reference to a soldier having placed himself in fatal danger because he feared ‘being laughed at as a sissy’. In another scene a man refuses to remove his prosthetic leg in the presence of his girlfriend despite the physical pain it causes him; it is implied that his behaviour stems from internalised disablism, but she makes it clear that his disability does not affect her feelings for him.
drugs
A man is shown taking prescribed painkillers which he and others casually refer to as ‘dope’.
alcohol and smoking
Scenes show a man craving alcohol and occasionally getting drunk, having developed alcoholism due to chronic pain and implied depression; at one point his struggle to resist drinking is illustrated by a fantastical sequence in which he is tormented by a giant whisky bottle. In other scenes people smoke pipes and cigarettes, reflecting the era in which the film was made.
Classified Date:
10/12/1948
Version:
2D
Use:
Cinema
Distributor:
British Lion Film Corp Ltd
Classified Date:
18/01/1996
Version:
2D
Use:
Physical media + VOD/Streaming
Distributor:
Lumiere Pictures

  • Classified date

    30/11/2023

  • Language

    English