The Hangman Waits

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'.

An odd and dark low-budget docudrama which follows the hunt for the killer of a cinema usherette. It's opening credit claims to provide an insight into the investigative journalism that goes into the reporting of a murder (it was made with the co-operation of The News of the World) but it shows little of any worth. Little is known about its Australian-born writer, director and producer A. Barr-Smith, and while the film is often amateurish and clumsily directed, he does show some moments of real creativity. John Le Mesurier makes his screen debut as a newsman.

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.

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 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.