21 days [1940, UK, drama, DVD5 (Custom)]

Larry Darrant (Laurence Olivier) is the younger brother of Keith (Leslie Banks), a prominent barrister in line for judgeship. Larry is his family's black sheep, having just returned from Kenya where he had bad luck in crop harvest. But he is ecstatic, reuniting with Wanda (Vivian Leigh), the woman he loves. Larry and Wanda decide they are hungry. When he complains he's broke, she offers a religious icon which he pawns for five bob. After purchasing a small dinner at an Italian delicatessen, he walks her home. She sees a light in her room and suspects an intruder. When they enter, they find her long-estranged husband (Esme Percy) waiting. He talks about having her earn money for him and tries to blackmail them for £10. As Larry tries to roust him, the husband pulls a knife and the two men are locked in a lengthy struggle, knocking things over. Finally, they both fall down together, the husband on the fire fender, accidentally killing him. The body is left in a nearby alcove on the street and he visits his older brother looking for advice. He wants to go to the police but his brother stalls him, thinking of how a scandal might affect his expected promotion. Larry is concerned in case another is accused of his crime; Keith blithely states an innocent man could NEVER be convicted here. A note written from Wanda to her husband is burned. Keith tells him to burn anything else linking him to Wanda and redeem the icon from the pawnbroker. Later, leaving the pawnbroker (Morris Harvey), Larry encounters and has a short conversation with a defrocked priest turned tramp (Hay Petrie), who refuses a handout. When Larry drops his gloves walking away, the tramp finds and wears them. Shortly thereafter, the tramp is arrested and gloves are found to have a trace of blood; he admits to stealing a ring from the dead man. Panicking, Keith then tells Larry to leave the country, to sail for Rio de Janeiro. He refuses when he realizes someone has been arrested. Later at dinner with the Lord Chief Justice (William Dewhurst), Keith and fellow barristers joke about laying bets, breaking the law, and how women are often the cause of much crime. Keith, worried Wanda will be the link to lead the police to his brother, takes a taxi to visit her. He views where they found the body and then sees Wanda, telling her coldly that she must not see Larry. In court, both Keith and Larry watch as they discover that Wanda's husband was a serial bigamist, living off woman's earnings. Relieved Wanda won't be involved, with the trial three weeks away and just having received his quarterly allowance, Larry decides they must cram all of his living in that time. He figures to turn himself in at the last moment to save the man from the noose, knowing the tramp is, like him, just down on his luck, undeserving of this punishment. Larry and Wanda spend the next three weeks blissfully spending his money and enjoying each other's company along with getting married. They notify his landlord (Meinhart Maur) they are leaving town. In the hours before the verdict is expected, on an impulse, they decide to take a paddle-wheel steamer excursion ship for a pleasure cruise down the Thames to the sea. They enjoy the boardwalk and the amusement park but Larry is haunted by the face of the suspect. Just as they return, they see the man has been convicted. They return to a surprise farewell party by his landlord and friends while Keith waits in their apartment upstairs. He is desperate to not lose face at work but he is unable to talk Larry out of surrendering. Larry sneaks away while Wanda is still in the party. Just then, someone brings in a newspaper to the party and she reads the suspect just died of a heart attack. Wanda races after Larry who is on his way to the police. Just as he walks in the police station door, she catches up to him, showing him the newspaper. They return slowly to their apartment, joyously arm-in-arm.