***SPOILER ALERT*** A bit talky and at times confusing the film "Mine Own Executioner" is still way ahead of its time,when it was made in 1947, about the complexities of the human mind and how to go about, if at all possible, curing them.

Psychoanalyst Felix Milne, Burgess Meredith, resents being called doctor in that he's not qualified, by not having a medical degree, in being one. It's for that very reason that Mrs. Molly Lucian, Barbara White, contacts him in order to help her very unstable husband Adam, Kieron Moore, who from previous experiences hates doctors with a passion. Told by Molly that Adam had attempted to strangle her Felix has Adam visit him at his office to see what he can do for him. It's when Felix sees the very weird looking Adam, who also turned out to be a kleptomaniac, outside his house he realizes that his problems, besides being somewhat homicidal, are far greater then he ever imagined!

Having been captured by the Japenses during the war Adam was brutally tortured by them in a Japanese, in Burma, prison camp. Making his escape from his Japaneses captors Adam ended up killing one of them, a prison guard, by cracking his skull open with a bamboo pole. It's when Adam saw his wife in their darkened apartment that he mistook her for his Japanese captors and thus tried to murder her!

As Felix tried to cure his patient's severe mental problems he's also having an affair with family friend Barbara Edge,Christine Norden, behind his wife Pat's, Dulcie Gray, back. This leads him to neglect Adam which in the end leads to disastrous results for everyone, including his wife Moll, involved with him.

Far better then most movies made about the subject, psychology and mental illness, at that time without the usual quick fix in neatly solving things by the time the film is finally over.

****SPOILERS*** Felix Milne did what he could to help his troubled patient but in the end the problems that Adam had were far too great, and complicated, for him or medical science to handle. The fact that Felix failed despite his best efforts to help Adam Lucian shows how honest the movie-"Mine Own Executioner"-was. Psychology-like Felix kept saying in the movie- is not an exact science but far from it. It was that realization on Felix's part that had him change his mind, when he wanted to quit his practice, when he was confronted with another patient of his, who was being abused by his father for actions he had no control of, who desperately needed Felix's help: The sad and frightened little Charlie Oakes, Malcolm Dalmayne.

All rather refreshing for me. The subject has been done before of course, but I can't recall it being too often and not with as much class as this, at least in the UK, at that time.

I can't really add to the reviews on the plot and subject matter, only that I thought Burgess Meredith played his part very well in this, and gave us a complex character with his own questions. A shout for the other actors as well, who all put in strong performances with their characterisations too, regardless of the amount of screen time. There is even an uncredited appearance of Michael Horden in this, and I also had sympathy for the kid who briefly opens and closes the film really, with his two contrasting appearances.

The general look of this B/W film and feel of the film is also very good, with a well written script all combining to give this film an entertaining atmosphere about it. I particular liked the scene where there's some subtle frisson going on in the room, and there is the most minimal of eye movement happening between the actors, bar one, that say it all.

About two thirds of the way through, I thought where is it all going, as it didn't seem to be going anywhere in particular, then I thought, so what, I'm enjoying the ride. It was a good ride too, as the strands came together and the pace picked up, with a well done tension highlight (Hitchcockian, some say, and I agree) in a rescue scene.

Surprised to see that Director, Anthony Kimmin's previous films included quite a few George Formby films filmed prior to the war. This was his first after the war, and bears no relation whatsoever to the Formby films.

If you have the time, and enjoy old B/W movies, this very well may be for you.

It comes as a surprise watching this to discover that psychiatry, in this country, was in such a state of infancy. Although it was about to be introduced into the NHS, in the early post-war years the insane asylums, where anyone who didn't fit the norm, tended to be tossed still prevailed. The mental effects of warfare were a factor in alerting the authorities to cause and effect more clearly than early childhood incidents, which parents tended to do their best to conceal. So, here we have a film of vital social interest, so intriguing and indeed stunning a 1947 audience that the film receive many plaudits and became the official British entry at Cannes. Burgess Meredith puts in a fine and convincing performance and the entire film is presented in such a way as to titillate, excite and inform with the added bonus of a scary suspense element and killings.