21 Days was directed by Basil Dean in 1937 but not released until 1940, when stars Laurence Olivier and Vivian Leigh became better known. I admire Olvier's films when he was younger (especially Raoul Walsh's The Yellow Ticket, 1931) and when he was older (Otto Preminger's Bunny Lake is Missing, 1965) and not the pompous self-important films in between (with the possible exception of Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940); when he directed himself he was his own worst enemy. But Leigh and Olivier were effectively low-key in Dean's film.
21 days refers to the amount of time between an indictment and a trial in England. Olivier and Leigh are lovers and when Leigh's former husband comes to blackmail her Olivier kills him in self-defense and quickly disposes of the body in an alley. A defrocked dipso preacher robs the body and ends up getting accused of the murder and when Olivier, the black sheep of the family, confesses to his barrister brother (Leslie Banks) he is told to say nothing, there is not enough evidence to convict the accused and, besides, in class-conscious England Banks would not get the judgeship he craves if his brother confesses.
Banks tries to get Leigh and Olivier to leave the country but Olivier refuses, deciding to have twenty-one days for the couple to enjoy before, if the preacher is found guilty, he turns himself in. There are many elements and scenes in this film that one can trace to the presence of Graham Greene as the author of the script, including the minister wanting to be punisher for robbing a dead man, Leigh having married in Russia to avoid starving (the dead man already had a wife, who testified at the trial), Olivier's struggle with his conscience and the final and fatal events. Dean and cinematographer Jan Stallick shoot the film with claustrophobic indoor sets and foggy outdoor ones that convey the limited mobility of Olivier and Leigh, while Banks and his wealthy friends dine and drink in luxurious surroundings.
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