The performances of Jack Hawkins and Michael Medwin aides this post war drama (which teacher has plenty of flashbacks of the war) shows how post-war trauma can destroy an individual (Medwin),and how a not so pleasant unplanned visit with his commanding officer (Hawkins) brings this all out. Conversations with other members of the troupe and flashbacks are intense, with the roaring tanks a symbol of aggression with the anxiety definitely the outcome of everything you see in the flashbacks going into the present day. The anxiety of Medwin's post war trauma is much more intense than a written description can express so you have to see it to totally understand it.

As usual with British films from this era, the photography, even in black and white, is amazingly detailed and really adds to the mood of the film. The film struggles at times do with his pacing, and scenes with Dora Bryan as a silly WAC eventually become annoying. There's a very well film sequence with a bunch of kids playing war games in a possible bombed out construction site, quite more gritty than anything I've seen in American films on the same subject.

While I do not think that this was filmed with an anti-war point of view, that is obviously there with the description of everything that Medwin went through and how it affected him. George Cole and Dennis Price co-star, and in a minor role, you can spot the future Emperor Tiberius of "I Claudius", George Baker. It is ultimately a tragedy, a dark view of society trying to regain its footing after an international crisis, and it's another piece of proof that just because peace has been declared doesn't mean that the war is really over. Nicely directed by Guy Hamilton.

Jack Hawkins, Michael Medwin, George Cole, and Dennis Price star in "The Intruder," a British film from 1953.

Hawkins is Colonel Merton, who comes home one night and discovers one of his ex-NCOs Ginger (Medwin) burglarizing his house. He wants to help him, but Ginger runs off, believing Merton called the police.

Merton sets out to find him by calling on some of the old regiment. We don't really get Ginger's whole story until near the end, but Merton learns a few things about those who served under him.

Throughout the film goes from flashback to present day, as Ginger is shown as heroic. There was one striking flashback scene. Which shows Leonard Pirry (Price) a tank commander, abandoning his tank when it looks like it's about to be destroyed by the enemy.

It falls to Ginger and another man to see if the radio works, and when the tank is fired upon, Ginger drags his partner to safety. Pirry has always pretended he was injured, though Merton knows the truth.

There is another scene, a comedy one with Arthur Howard, that doesn't add much to the film. It seems to be there for some humor.

Another powerful scene concerns Ginger's return from the war.

I have a letter written by Tyrone Power while he was in London. It says that he is going to "chez Hawkins" for dinner. I think of that every time I see Jack Hawkins.

The colonel Jack Hawkins coming home surprises a burglar, who happens to be one of his former soldiers. He can't understand how such a good soldier could happen to a criminal course and can't just let the case slip away. He engages himself in the mystery of the fallen soldier, finds other soldiers of the same company, and gradually gets a thread or two with which to unravel the mystery. The mystery proves a tragedy, and the final sequences out in the country are heart-breaking in their revelations of sheer bad luck derailing into overwhelming misfortunes. There are many flashbacks, you get back into the war and some of its worst ordeals, you only catch faint traces of the soldier in question at first, but gradually your eyes are opened to his case. It's not a great film, but it's a great story, and it is well filmed, and definitely one of Jack Hawkins' best.