Rent The Sleeping Tiger (1954)

Freudian drama. - The Sleeping Tiger review by Steve

1954 was the year that Dirk Bogarde became a major British star with Doctor in the House. But The Sleeping Tiger was a more significant indication of the actor's future direction. It was the first of many collaborations with Joseph Losey, an elaborate psycho-drama with Dirk playing a complex, dangerous criminal who moves in with a psychiatrist.

Alexander Knox plays the narcissistic shrink who wants to get into the head of the volatile delinquent, and unlock his suppressed trauma with Freudian analysis. But didn't reckon on his bored, beautiful wife (Alexis Smith) falling for the handsome, imperious younger man. Wrong move! She has hidden motives too. And the film becomes a malign power struggle.

It's the kind of cerebral, brooding psychological stand off for which Losey is remembered. It's an actors film, and Alexis Smith is excellent as an emotionally hungry neurotic who is outwardly assured and elegant. But Bogarde dominates playing a sardonic, insidious sociopath; a forerunner of his signature performance in Losey's, The Servant.

Losey released his UK debut under a borrowed name, because he was a refugee from McCarthyism. He became arguably the standout director of 50s-60s British films. This is an intelligent and unconventional drama, rather than groundbreaking. He wasn't quite there yet. But it's an early gateway into his oeuvre, and the dark charisma of Dirk Bogarde.