The Large Rope

Tom Penney (Donald Houston) is returning to his small English village after spending three years in prison. However, he apparently did not actually commit any crime though the town is about as unfriendly as it can be. They all assume he's guilty and treat him like dirt. Only a couple people in town know the truth but they won't speak up about it.

In the midst of all this antipathy, a dead woman is discovered. Immediately the town assumed Tom killed her and a lynch mob mentality erupts. As for Tom, he's scared out of his wits and runs. Can the truth be revealed? I must first point out that my wife wasn't as thrilled with this film as I was. When it was over, she complained that although the film was good, they really didn't explain what happened to send Tom to prison three years earlier. While it's true that this is vague, I liked the way the picture portrayed human nature at its worst. An interesting story.

This film is one of my favourite low budget British mysteries from the 1950's. Houston stars as a man framed for a crime. He serves his time in prison and upon release goes back to the small rural town he grew up in. There, he is considered a crook and treated like an outcast. When a murder occurs in the town, everyone is quick to point their finger at him. Even the police believe he is guilty and a man hunt is initiated.

A small bit of fortune goes his way and he finds evidence that incriminates the real killer. Now it's a race against time as he tries to confront the real killer before he is captured by the police. This is a minor, low budget British mystery. But the performances are well above par, especially Mr. Houston, and I found this an enjoyable 70 minutes. STARS Donald Houston, Susan Shaw, Robert Brown, Peter Byrne, Richard Warner, Vanda Godsell.

Donald Houston stars in "The Long Rope" from 1953, also starring Susan Shaw, Robert Brown, Peter Byrne, Richard Warner, and Vanda Godsell.

After spending time in prison, Tom Penney (Houston) returns to his home town. His ex-girlfriend is marrying someone else; his father doesn't want him in the house; and as soon as the local floozy is murdered, he gets the blame.

Donald Houston reminded me of a homely version of Ingo Rademacher, an actor on General Hospital, and a young Lloyd Bridges. He certainly evoked sympathy in the role.

Interesting look at guilty until proven innocent in a small English town.

Before becoming known as THE LONG ROPE, director Wolf Rilla's THE LARGE ROPE meant that Donald Houston's central character, a young man released from jail and returning to his small hometown village, is basically caught right in the thick of it...

Not only does no one want him around, especially ex-girlfriend Susan Shaw and his former best friend she's marrying, but he winds up accused of murdering a flirtatious older woman played by an actress who made a living brilliantly playing them...

After Vanda Godsell's killed by a person she sees and we don't, what's a kind of frantic melodrama becomes a bonafide whodunnit, and Houston does a nice job frowning and arguing his way through various domiciles and a crowded pub full of drunks who basically want him dead...

Director Rilla, who'd later make another small town thriller in VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED, keeps the pace on a hectically intriguing level, and the British actors (including Robert Brown, Peter Byrne and Edward Judd) are topnotch, going beyond the minuscule budget - that actually suits the desperate one-street purgatory.

Now I can imagine a long rope; or a thick rope - but can a rope actually be "large"? Anyway, enough of my pedantry. Donald Houston returns to his rural English village after being in prison for assaulting a women. When another local woman is murdered, he is the obvious suspect and must prove his innocence whilst avoiding the pursuing police and angry villagers. It is quite a fast moving story, and one of the few you will ever see that demonstrates any form of English social disobedience - the villagers almost descend into a lynch mob - of the constabulary. I thought it obvious who the real killer was from early on, but Wolf Rilla keeps it all moving well until a rather soppy, violin-inspired, conclusion.