The Innocent Sleep (1996)


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Paul Wunder

 John Hannah plays:  James, Billie's fellow journalist
 
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Summary: A hapless derelict finds himself pursued after he accidentally witnesses a hanging in this taut thriller. It begins one night when homeless boozer Alan Terry (Rupert Graves) settles down for the night near the Tower Bridge in London. There he sees an Italian supervising the hanging of another Italian. The suave overseer is assisted by three British thugs. They see Terry and pursue him, but he escapes.  Fellow bum and friend George (Graham Crowden) urges him to report the execution, which was listed in the papers as a suicide, to the cops. Unfortunately, it is then that Terry discovers that the officer in charge of the case was one of the thugs. The vagabond then goes to a hard-bitten American journalist, Billie Hayden (Annabella Sciorra - right), who has come to London to work until a recent incident she was involved in settles down at home. They discover that the man in charge of the killing is a well-known financier and that he is linked to an esoteric sect of Freemasons.  Action ensues as they try to solve the murder before they are captured by the murderous Mason.
- Sandra Brennan, All-Movie Guide

My thoughts:  Once again, John Hannah is the best thing in the film.  This isn't always a bad thing - I thought he was the best thing in SLIDING DOORS too, and that's my favorite movie.  But in this case, I felt the movie needed some more John Hannah.  He played a rather minor character - a fellow journalist of Billie Hayden's.  His character was very cute and funny and bespectacled.  I wish we'd seen more of this James, because I didn't find the plot of the movie particularly fascinating or original.
Keep an eye out for Paul Brightwell (Clive from SLIDING DOORS) as one of the thugs at the beginning!


Last Update: 22 May 2001 by SRAH