The Hangman Waits

I stumbled over this little known British film from the late 40's on Talking Pictures TV whilst having my breakfast this morning.

What can I say? Well apart from the terrible acting, probably because most of the cast weren't pro actors, the writing and direction were bad as well. Most of it was quite comical, shades of the Keystone cops in a chase sequence with half a dozen policemen hanging off the sides.

A lot of padding with footage of trains running back and forth, then the chase sequence up the stair, and up the stairs and yet more running up the stairs.

Nice to see a very young, uncredited John Le Mesurier with a couple of lines, if you don't recognise the face his voice is unmissable. Filmed around the streets of London, still very heavily bomb damaged, makes it worth watching.

Don't expect anything special but worth an hour or so of your time.

By the way, who let the cat out on the piano, the music soundtrack was awful.

The discovery of parts of a murdered girl sends the press and police on a manhunt.

It's a fairly experimental thriller directed by a fellow named A. Barr-Smith, who directed, produced and wrote a few movies around this time. He was born in 1905, he was Australian, and that's about the limit of knowledge about him on the Internet. His technique here is advanced, as if someone were to apply early Academician techniques to a murder mystery. It works, although erratically, because a loud and irrelevant score by Albert Ferber demands the viewer's attention. Still, the editing technique works in building suspense, as we see peoples' reactions more than the action, and parts of the performers, as if they are victims of the murderer. Over all, I found it unsatisfactory because of its inconsistent pacing, but it definitely points the way to something that might have been interesting.

John Le Meseurier makes his first screen appearance in an uncredited bit.

This film could almost be an advertisement for the journalistic integrity of the "News of the World" newspaper. Indeed, it's almost a documentary that follows the investigation into the brutal murder of a cinema usherette. We see the crime committed, but have no idea why or whom - all of that, rather procedurally, comes out over the next hour or so. Neither the acting nor the script merit much of a mention here, the production is really very basic, and it's all rather dry, but there is some interesting print works actuality from a day when this was an hugely successful publication and we are offered some rather depressing imagery of just how badly the City of London was damaged by the Blitz. The title flatters to deceive a bit - this isn't really very exciting or memorable.

The more amateurish a feature the more avant-garde it tends to look, especially after a few years have passed. That certainly applies to this no-budget crime movie enlivened by early morning shots of postwar London landmarks like the Houses of Parliament and St.Paul's Cathedral, which are possibly the work of 'Dennis' (sic) Coop, who as Denys Coop nearly a quarter of a century later helped recreate the Christie case as cameraman on '10 Rillington Place'.

(Somebody involved in 'The Hangman Waits' probably also used to attend the Film Society during the twenties, since the outdoor scenes are slickly edited together to a silent-style piano & organ score by someone called Albert Ferber that one user has already compared to Brian Easdale's for 'Peeping Tom'.)

The interior scenes depicting the offices of the 'News of the World' and at Scotland Yard are by contrast rendered almost inaudible by lousy sound recording, so one has to strain to catch the grisly details of the Victoria trunk murder. However it eventually livens up with an energetic climactic chase through the Fleet Street headquarters of the 'News of the World'; which has been shamelessly plugged throughout the film.

Connoisseurs of old British movies will recognise John Turnbull as the detective, Anthony Baird (the hospitalised racing driver in 'Dead of Night') as the wanted man, and John Le Mesurier in an eyeshade in a couple of scenes as one of the night staff at 'The News of the World'.

A run-down cinema late at night. With the customers making their way home, the commissioner heads to the manager's office to hand over (presumably) a note of the takings. But the manager has company. An hour or so later, we see a young, blonde usherette exit his office and towards the staff room to get her coat. Only someone is waiting for her..... A previous reviewer describes this movie as "poverty row" which tickled me as I find it hard to believe the budget for this thriller would have stretched much beyond a few hundred pounds - and that supplied by the News of the World on the understanding they're portrayed as being forever one step ahead of the police.

The story itself is nothing special, there are no real twists in it, no stand-out performances. The editing is iffy at best, much of the dialogue is unintelligible due to the low quality.

But this is worth putting up with for two specific reasons. The first is the location photography. Filmed in and around Fleet Street itself, we see numerous rather artistically framed shots of a bomb-damaged London. Indeed, 20 years later, London was still recovering from the damage inflicted by the Luftwaffe.

The second reason was quite unexpected and one which earned the killer a degree of sympathy from me. Whilst taking refuge in a church, he is offered a chance to play the organ. As this takes place, we see his mind drift back to happier times when he and the usherette were courting. For once in his otherwise miserable life, he was happy. He felt part of the human race. And then she ripped that away from him, presumably by giving him the elbow.

It doesn't excuse his actions (or his subsequent action) but it did add a dimension to his character I didn't expect.

I don't know if the ending was some sort of homage to the Keystone Cops or not but that's what it reminded me in.

We do see the killer's face right at the end - and those who are acquainted with "Dead Of Night" may recognise him.

Oh - and I love the soundtrack that's used throughout. Reminds me in "Carnival Of Souls".