Intolerable Overacting from Charles Laughton makes this one Unbearable. All of the Nuance is Gone and what remains is just too much to take on the Big Screen. It's a Wonder Laughton managed another Role after this bit of Excessive Scene Stealing .It's actually more than Scene Stealing it's Show Stealing. Even for 1932 and many Stage Actors making the Transition to Film, this was a Performance that's Inexcusable. Ray Milland Shows up in an Early Role and Notice how Laughton Bullies Him from word one. He Verbally Assaults Him Beyond the Pale.Maureen O' Sullivan does manage to Get a Word in Once and While and Her Change of Character is a Temporary Diversion from the Bull-Like Laughton. The Wife and the French Floozy are OK but nothing can really Stop the Juggernaut that is Charles Laughton.Overall, so Stagy and Dated, so Over the Top and Ripe that the Entertainment Value is Lost, except the Clever Twist Ending. But Enduring this is almost Impossible to get to that One Surprise.

Charles Laughton starts chewing the curtains almost immediately in this grisly tale of greed and murder. Sir Charles had yet to tone down his film performances that would calibrate into some of the finest ever on screen and with Payment Deferred he's strictly a bull in a china shop.Bank clerk William Marble faces ruin with his family when a suddenly long lost nephew (Ray Milland) appears on his doorstep. Imploring him for a loan Marble is rebuffed and resorts to killing him. In a wild reversal of fortune he goes from ruin to riches but remains tortured and ultimately a victim of his own success which leads to his destruction.Lothar Mendes direction is stilted and it's clear he has no handle on Laughton who lurches erratically throughout, his inflection a work in progress. Maureen O'Sullivan and Verea Teasdale also seem to have caught what Laughton has, especially in the case of Teasedale's outrageously accented French seductress. Dorothy Peterson as Marble's suffering wife is both tragic and serene in the films only impressive performance.Mendes does supply some flashes of Hitchcock editing but for the most part the pace remains obvious and stilted; interspersed with glimmers of brilliance from Laughton followed by scene killing eruptions.

What makes PAYMENT DEFERRED even more of a curiosity is that three of its stars: CHARLES LAUGHTON, MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN and RAY MILLAND would all appear about fifteen years later in THE BIG CLOCK.Ray Milland has a small role as a debonair and wealthy man whose wealth is just what Laughton needs, since he's facing eviction unless he can make the next payment on the house he shares with DOROTHY PETERSON (his wife) and daughter MAUREEN O'SULLIVAN.Laughton manages to poison Milland and accumulate his wealth. The plot thickens when a flirtatious blackmailer (VERREE TEASDALE) wins his affection by starting an intimate relationship while his wife and daughter are away. To tell the rest, is giving away too much of the plot.What's really amazing is how much unadulterated "ham" Laughton is able to get away with. You can almost see Ray Milland sizing him up (with side glances) in the scene where he's about to be poisoned and probably knowing he was being outplayed by a master of the art.The story has an ending very much in the same vein as ANOTHER MAN'S POISON--but is rather stage-bound with almost all of the action taking place on one set.Summing up: Laughton is fascinating but there's a primitive look to the whole tale. Interesting to see a young Ray Milland in a minor role.

Of all the stars of the 1930s, Charles Laughton was probably one of the most unlikely. He was fat, not handsome, and as hammy as any film actor in history. But he was also a colossal talent. For years, filmgoers couldn't take their eyes of him when he was on screen. Laughton was a star. Payment Deferred was an early starring role, and while Laughton is twitchy and hammy, he's also wonderful as the timid bank clerk who turns to murder. Stagy but effective little thriller. Maureen O'Sullivan and Ray Milland (in one of his first sizable roles) are also good as are Dorothy Peterson (as the wife), Veree Teasdale (as the shop owner), Halliwell Hobbes, Ethel Griffies, Doris Lloyd, Billy Bevan, and William Stack. But Laughton is front and center and he's a joy to watch.