Don't know if you've ever seen The Passionate Friends, also with Trevor Howard, but there is also an unusual coffee maker in that. It's when he has Ann Todd over for dinner to his flat.

Rex Harrison uses one in "Blythe Spirit".

My parents still use one.

Where is everyone? That is a simple Silex vacuum system - as common as percolators in the good old days.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_coffee_maker

You can also see one of these being used in the Powell and Pressburger film "The Small Back Room" (1949).

Interesting. I'll take note of it next time I watch this lovely little film.

Yes, it was a bizarre little contraption. Belonged in Dr Jekyll's laboratory rather than Laura Jesson's living room!

www.davidlrattigan.com
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Very interesting, thanks! Just saw this movie for the first time and that thing jumped RIGHT out at medefinitely gotta get one someday, it sounds really cool from your description and of course looks amazing. Much appreciated!

Thanks 'Adelbertus' - I also remember a similar coffee percolator machine by 'Cona' in the 1960's where the water went back and forth but, at least it was recognisable as such.
The reason for my original post was slightly 'tongue-in-cheek' since, it was the shape of the coffee machine that was so odd and unconventional. This led to my thinking it was made from war-surplus electronic parts such as the cathode ray tube from a Radar Set! I realise of course, this was very unlikely.

From the looks of it, I suspect the coffee maker was a vacuum pot. The carafe is the lower half of a two-part apparatus, into which one pours the appropriate amount of water; the upper part is a bowl with a pipe on the bottom, into which one fits a filter and places the ground coffee. The pipe fits into the mouth of the carafe, and then the water in the carafe is brought to a boil (usually on a spirit stove, so that coffee can be made tableside). The water then rises into the bowl of the upper half, where the coffee steeps in the hot water. When the apparatus is taken off the heat, the process reverses, and the brewed coffee returns to the carafe. It's actually a rather fascinating process, and is fun to put on for dinner guests. The old coffee makers often turn up in vintage shops and thrift stores. Bodum still produces a line of vacuum coffee makers under the name "Santos."