A silent film of British director Anthony Asquith, recently has been restored by BFI, it is his second feature made at the age of 26, and he would later bring us many important play- adaptation classics like PYGMALION (1938),THE BROWNING VERSION (1951) and THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (1952),although UNDERGROUND is a creation out of his own wit, this incipient piece cogently concretises his astonishing cinematic aesthetics, particularly Stanley Rodwell's majestically composed cinematography and the slick final action stunts.

UNDERGROUND is about a working-class love story in the metropolitan London, Nell (Landi) is a shopgirl and Bert (McLaglen) is a power station worker, they both take the newly-inaugurated London metro to work and get off at the same station, where Bill (Aherne) works as an escalator operator (an obsolete job to the eyes of later generations),then the story evolves into a two-suitors-one-girl situation, although Bert is a well-groomed lady-killer, Nell chooses Bill eventually, the handsome and gentlemanly chap, their love story burgeons from a lost glove, here Asquith showcases his innovate camera movements of the two walking in the opposite directions in two reversely moving escalators, the comic timing is purely golden, which has already been effectively justified from its beguiling opening vignettes with a potpourri of interactions between passengers, including Bert and Nell. But Bert is far from a well-bred loser, he is brash, revengeful and manipulative, he coaxes Kate (Baring),a seamstress lives in the same lodge and his former lover whom he has gotten tired of, to set up a scene in public and defame Bill's reputation. On condition that he will treat her well, Kate complies and Bill is going to lose his job, hence undermines the marriage. But, Nell is no wide-eyed flapper, she doesn't give up easily, instead, by a sheer coincidence, she noses out the lead back to Burt and finds Kate, lays bare the truth. In the third act, an impending tragedy ensues and a white-knuckle chasing set piece brings Bill and Burt into an elevator in the underground station, and the good heroically defeats the evil.

The most significant feature of the film is its sterling utilisation of silhouettes and shades, glistening under the finely-restored monochromic texture and its futuristic layout of (almost) every and each shots, all promisingly denotes what a young talent Asquith is, and I must move his other works onto the top-tier of my watch-list now!

The four main cast thrive in their expressive performances, our heroine Elissa Landi is so unbridled in her facial expressions, the transition from kindness to sheer sneer can be impeccably accomplished in a jiffy, as a young woman inculcated by independence, she also functions as the antithetical specimen to the old-world Kate, a woman blinded and entrapped by her own fantasy of a man who only uses her as a disposable pawn. However a feline-like Norah Baring triumphantly brings out the ascending pathos in her lingering comportment which will lead to her fatal destruction. Aherne is squarely handsome, a leading man material indeed and McLaglen competently brandishes with his sinister edge whenever the plot requires.

In short, UNDERGROUND is an excellent genre-crossing silent picture, stylishly in the vanguard and entertaining as well, another bonus is the symphonic accompany score from Neil Brand, from lilting to gripping, hones up the atmosphere up to the hilt. It certainly deserves a wider audience in addition to the usual coterie who is fond of silent goodies.

A rather simple tale of two girls and two guys, both of whom are after the same girl. Although the tale itself is rather melodramatic and not very interesting, the local colour, streets, traffic and particularly the bus ride are marvellous. There is not as much action in the underground system as i had expected but there are glorious shots (and sequences within) the Lots Road power station - the very one that provided the power for the system. All participants are more or less working class, with one guy working on the underground railway and the other at the power station whilst one of the girls is a shop assistant (Selfridges?) and the other seemingly a seamstress working in her room. Fascinating to see those old picture postcard streets go by and even more on the extras provided on the BFI Blu-ray disc. Great watch.

If anyone's seen The Best of Everything and wondered if Mr. Shalimar could have ever been young, go out and rent the silent movie thirty years earlier: Underground. In my opinion, Brian Aherne looks exactly the same. He's still tall, handsome, charming, dashing, and adorable. In this movie, he plays a worker on the underground (London's version of the subway system). He falls for Elissa Landi at first sight, and they enjoy a very sweet meet-cute where she drops her glove and he rides up the escalator in the wrong direction just to hand it back to her. Wouldn't you fall for Brian Aherne if he smiled at you while standing on the wrong escalator and holding out your glove? Elissa agrees, and she floats on the same cloud the rest of the day as she dreams of her true love.

Where's the fly in the ointment? Cyril McLaglen plays a pool playing, beer drinking scoundrel who hits on Elissa on the train. She's not interested, but he's just as convinced she's his true love as she is about Brian. So begins a riveting love triangle with more twists and turns than you'll be prepared for. Anthony Asquith's direction is extremely surprising, and if you didn't know any better, you'd think the movie was made twenty or thirty years later as a tribute to silent pictures. Most silent film directors stick to static shots, brightly lit close ups with only the star in the frame, and simple compositions. Asquith fills up his frame with extras who are all moving and conducting their own business, even during the leads' close ups. He's clearly ahead of his time, and it's a pleasure to watch his films. It's also great fun to watch Brian Aherne before audiences knew he had a lovely speaking voice! As a bonus, you'll hear a beautiful music score written for the remastered version-hats off to Neil Brand.