“Neither Trevor Howard nor Claude Rains was ever exactly a star of movies. They invariably played large or leading parts, but they did not sustain their pictures commercially and they rarely dominated the narrative. To have either of them in a film is virtually to guarantee a movie about several people, and one that will be influenced by their own grave modesty with strong feelings. For they were both emotional actors who believed in restraint. They may seem de-glamorized by their roots in theatre, or by Englishness. But, in fact, they have both functioned as ‘international' actors. What is most important about them in this series is the way they personify a kind of ‘lead' acting that is as self-effacing as supporting work.
“Rains is the husband and Howard the lover in the triangle of David Lean's The Passionate Friends. Lean's wife at the time, Ann Todd, plays the woman caught between them. Far less known than most of the director's work, the picture has an intricate flashback construction (so similar to contemporary film noir) and a way of filming spatial relationships that embodies their psychological stresses. But it is Rains who catches the eye. That taut face could convey pain or malice, and the two together. Here it goes to a greater test, making a cold, possessive man sympathetic, rather like, but richer than, his character in the earlier Notorious.” David Thomson