Brief Ecstasy

Brief Ecstasy is a 1937 British drama film directed by Edmond T. Gréville and starring Paul Lukas, Hugh Williams, Linden Travers and Marie Ney. It was made at Ealing Studios.

Cast

 * Paul Lukas a Professor Paul Bernardy
 * Hugh Williams as Jim Wyndham
 * Linden Travers as Helen Norwood Bernardy
 * Marie Ney as Martha Russell
 * Renee Gadd as Marjorie
 * Fred Withers as Gardener
 * Howard Douglas as Coleman
 * Fewlass Llewellyn as Director of Steel Company
 * Peter Gawthorne as Chairman of Steel Company
 * Norman Pierce as Landlord

Reception
Writing for Night and Day in 1937, Graham Greene gave the film a good review, expressing admiration for producer Perceval's ability to "wring twenty shillings' worth out of every pound" and director Gréville's recognition that for a film whose subject is sexual passion "the story doesn't matter; it's the atmosphere which counts". Greene praised Gréville's "wanton and vivid" depictions of "undifferentiated desire" as well as his French education in "photograph[ing] a woman's body - uncompromisingly", and noted that "the film at its finest [...] generalizes", and "there isn't, thank God, any love in it".