The Heart of the Matter (1953)
Directed by George More O'Ferrall

Film Review

The Heart of the Matter may not be the most stylish or faithful adaptation of a Graham Greene novel but it is assuredly one of the most sophisticated and intense, a film that expresses Greene's cynical view about religion and human fallibility, almost as succinctly and eloquently as the author himself.  Guilt and the impossibility of redemption are concepts that occupy much of Greene's writing, but they are central to The Heart of the Matter, which is considered by many to be his finest work.  George More O'Ferrall's arresting screen adaptation takes the essence of Greene's book and works it into a powerfully moving melodrama that is distinguished most by a remarkable central performance from Trevor Howard.

Howard regarded this film as one of his favourites, and it is quite possibly the one in which he gives his finest performance.  In a world that is visibly scarred by war and gangsterism, where everyone appears either wilfully corrupt, cynically self-interested or lacking in moral fibre, Howard's Major Scobie appears to be a model of rectitude.  He is committed to his job, even though he clearly isn't valued by his superiors, and he does what he can to make his wife happy, even though there is no doubt that the passion has long since gone out of their marriage.  Yet it isn't long before the real Major Scobie begins to emerge, a man whose shining righteousness is founded not on moral strength but on a far less noble quality, pity.

Scobie is a man who cannot bear to see others suffer, and at one point he makes himself a criminal (acting as a courier for a diamond smuggler played by a sinister Gérard Oury) so that he can spare his wife the pain of discovering his infidelity.  It is pity (not compassion) that draws him to the waiflike refugee Helen (Maria Schell at her most fragile), and even when he has begun a love affair with her, we cannot be certain whether he genuinely loves her or is merely playing the part of the Good Samaritan.  Inevitably, Scobie is eaten away by guilt, guilt that becomes a cancer which ultimately destroys him.  Howard's magnificent portrayal of the slow disintegration of his character is so authentic that it is almost too painful to watch, but such is the mesmeric quality of the actor's performance that we are compelled to stay with Scobie and accompany him as he makes his agonising descent into Hell.

The film's most noticeable departure from the novel is its ending, which allows Scobie to achieve what he fails to pull off in Greene's original story, namely to mask his suicide and thereby mitigate the pain of those who are closest to him.  It isn't clear why this change was made and, on the face of it, it seems somewhat perverse since it merely substitutes one horribly bleak ending with another.  The film spares us the cynical coda of Greene's novel and allows its hero some measure of redemption which Greene appears so keen to deny him.  It is interesting that Greene himself was far from happy with his book, which, with its particularly austere view of Catholicism, offers little comfort to anyone who reads it.  The film feels closer to what Greene may have intended: a portrait of a man who fails to reconcile his human failings with a misguided sense of duty towards others, but who is ultimately redeemed by one last act of self-sacrifice.

Film Synopsis

During WWII, Major Harry Scobie is an assistant police commissioner based in Sierra Leone.  He carries out his duties diligently and isn't greatly upset when he is passed over for promotion.   His wife Louise wants him to retire but Harry has grown too attached to his job and needs the financial security it brings.  Instead, he sends his wife off to South Africa for a short holiday, paid for with a loan from Yusef, an unscrupulous local black marketeer.  During his wife's absence, Harry begins an affair with a young Austrian refugee, Helen.  Harry is surprised when he learns that his wife has cut short her holiday and is on her way back to him.  Having acquired a love letter which Harry intended for Helen, Yusef blackmails the Major into delivering a valuable parcel to the captain of his wife's boat.  After Louise's return, Harry agonises over confessing his adultery to a priest.  A committed Catholic, he is torn between his love for Helen and his duty towards his wife.  In the end, there seems to be only one way out...