The Last Man to Hang

Last updated

The Last Man to Hang?
The Last Man to Hang%3F (1956 film).jpg
Directed by Terence Fisher
Written by Gerald Bullett
Ivor Montagu
Max Trell
Maurice Elvey
Based onnovel The Jury by Gerald Bullett [1]
Produced byJohn Gossage
Starring Tom Conway
Elizabeth Sellars
Cinematography Desmond Dickinson
Edited by Peter Taylor
Music by John Wooldridge
Production
company
Association of Cinema Technicians (A.C.T.)
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • August 1956 (1956-08)(UK)
Running time
75 min.
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Last Man to Hang? (Australia and New Zealand title: The Amazing Daphne Strood) is a 1956 crime film directed by Terence Fisher and starring Tom Conway and Elizabeth Sellars. [2] [3] It was produced by John Gossage for Act Films Ltd. [4]

Contents

Plot

Music critic Sir Roderick Strood is having an affair with a beautiful singer, Elizabeth Anders. In a storyline which appears partly in flashback and partly in real time, his wife Daphne refuses to give him a divorce and subsequently tries to shoot herself, but after apparently becoming reconciled to the situation tells Roderick to leave the country with the singer and that she shall see him on the other side. Sir Roderick gives his wife a strong sedative, given him by his mistress, not knowing that his wife's housekeeper, Mrs Tucker, has already given her a sedative. Daphne apparently dies of an overdose, though an early scene of her arrival at hospital has in fact made it clear that she is still alive, and that Mrs Tucker has deliberately mis-identified the body of another woman, brought to hospital at the same time, as Daphne's.

Stopped at the airport Sir Roderick says "I've killed her" and is arrested and charged with murder.

A jury must decide whether Sir Roderick poisoned his wife deliberately, or whether her death was accidental. [5] Several references to the debate about the abolition of capital punishment that was going on in British society in the 1950s are made. One protracted jury room scene recalls the play for television Twelve Angry Men , which had been shown on US TV in 1954.

The trial focuses on the semantic difference between "I've killed her" and "I killed her", and on the question of whether Sir Roderick could have heard Mrs Tucker's voice, warning him not to give his wife a sedative as she had already done so, through a closed door. A demonstration that he might not have heard the housekeeper is enough to convince the jury and he is found not guilty.

Following the trial Sir Roderick returns home, but Mrs Tucker, despite having made every attempt to have Sir Roderick convicted and hanged, now admits that she knew he had not killed his wife as she is not dead. Having heard Roderick confess in the witness box that he still loved his wife and not Elizabeth, Mrs Tucker takes him to his wife (hiding in a large country cottage) where the police, whom Mrs Tucker has tipped off, wait outside to arrest the housekeeper for perjury.

Historical note

The film was released in August 1956. Nobody was hanged in the UK between 12 August 1955, and 23 July 1957.[ citation needed ]

Cast

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This British court drama follows a now familiar pattern, including the customary cameos of the jury members showing their private lives and problems; the trial itself (with flashbacks) and the final deliberations. Tom Conway seems unsuitably cast and gives a somewhat unconvincing performance; the other players range from adequate to good. Altogether, a conscientious but rather stagey production with an implausible surprise ending." [6]

Chibnall and McFarlane in The British 'B' Film call the film "a not particularly distinguised Old Bailey trial drama with a twist ending that boasted an unusually strong cast." [7]

Leslie Halliwell described it as a: "reasonably interesting co-feature." [8]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "mediocre", writing: "Dullish, highly unlikelt thriller." [9]

Kim Newman wrote: "It's a strange piece of storytelling, perhaps made stranger by censorship requiements, and ambitious in its scope for a quota quickie built around a fading (and appropriately glum) Hollywood name, Tom Conway." [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Lee</span> British actress (1913–2004)

Anna Lee, MBE was a British actress, labelled by studios "The British Bombshell".

<i>Murder!</i> 1930 film

Murder! is a 1930 British thriller film co-written and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Herbert Marshall, Norah Baring and Edward Chapman. Written by Hitchcock, his wife Alma Reville and Walter C. Mycroft, it is based on the 1928 novel Enter Sir John by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson. It was Hitchcock's third all-talkie film, after Blackmail (1929) and Juno and the Paycock (1930).

<i>Dead Mans Folly</i> 1956 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

Dead Man's Folly is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in October 1956 and in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 5 November of the same year. The US edition retailed at $2.95 and the UK edition at twelve shillings and sixpence (12/6). It features Hercule Poirot and Ariadne Oliver.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Conway</span> British actor (1904–1967)

Tom Conway was a British film, television, and radio actor remembered for playing detectives and psychiatrists, among other roles.

<i>Cloudburst</i> (1951 film) 1951 film by Francis Searle

Cloudburst is a 1951 British crime drama film produced by Hammer Films, directed by Francis Searle, starring Robert Preston and featuring Elizabeth Sellars, Harold Lang, Colin Tapley and Sheila Burrell. The script is based on a play written by Leo Marks, a wartime cryptographer for the Special Operations Executive, and later the author of a memoir about his wartime work, Between Silk and Cyanide (1998).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Sellars</span> Scottish actress (1921–2019)

Elizabeth Macdonald Sellars was a Scottish actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Arnold</span> English actress (1894–1979)

Grace Arnold was an English actress.

<i>The Last Page</i> 1952 British film by Terence Fisher

The Last Page, released in the United States as Man Bait, is a 1952 British film noir directed by Terence Fisher, starring George Brent, Marguerite Chapman and Diana Dors. The film was also known as Murder in Safety and Blonde Blackmail.

<i>Ghost Ship</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film by Vernon Sewell

Ghost Ship is a 1952 British second feature thriller film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Dermot Walsh and Hazel Court. It was written by Vernon Sewell and Philip Thornton. This was one of four attempts by Vernon Sewell to adapt and film the Pierre Mills and Celia de Vilyars Grand Guignol stage playL'Angoisse.

<i>John and Julie</i> 1955 film

John and Julie is a 1955 British comedy film written and directed by William Fairchild for Group 3 Films and distributed by British Lion Films. The cast includes Colin Gibson and Lesley Dudley as John and Julie respectively. Other stars include Noelle Middleton and Moira Lister, and featuring Peter Sellers and Sid James in early screen roles. It marked the film debut of Valerie Buckley. In 1953, two children are determined to see the Queen and decide to make their way to London.

<i>Derby Day</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film

Derby Day is a 1952 British drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding, Googie Withers, John McCallum, Peter Graves, Suzanne Cloutier and Gordon Harker. An ensemble piece, it portrays several characters on their way to the Derby Day races at Epsom Downs Racecourse. It was an attempt to revive the success that Neagle and Wilding had previously enjoyed on screen together. To promote the film, Wilcox arranged for Neagle to launch the film at the 1952 Epsom Derby. In the United States, the film was released as Four Against Fate.

<i>The Man in the Sky</i> 1957 British film by Charles Crichton

The Man in the Sky is a 1957 British thriller drama film directed by Charles Chrichton and starring Jack Hawkins and Elizabeth Sellars. A test pilot strives to land a stricken prototype plane.

<i>Sailor Beware!</i> (1956 film) 1956 British film by Gordon Parry

Sailor Beware! is a 1956 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Peggy Mount, Shirley Eaton and Ronald Lewis. It was released in the United States by Distributors Corporation of America in 1957 as Panic in the Parlor.

<i>Treasure Hunt</i> (1952 film) 1952 British film by John Paddy Carstairs

Treasure Hunt is a 1952 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Martita Hunt, Jimmy Edwards, Naunton Wayne and Athene Seyler. It is based on the 1949 play Treasure Hunt by Molly Keane and John Perry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olive Sloane</span> English actress

Olive Sloane was an English actress whose film career spanned over 40 years from the silent era through to her death. Sloane's career trajectory was unusual in that for most of her professional life she was essentially an anonymous bit part actress, and her best, most substantial roles did not come until relatively late in her career when she was in her 50s. Her most famous film appearance is the 1950 production Seven Days to Noon.

<i>The Twenty Questions Murder Mystery</i> 1950 film

The Twenty Questions Murder Mystery, also known as Murder on the Air, is a 1950 British second feature comedy crime film directed by Paul L. Stein and starring Robert Beatty, Rona Anderson, and Clifford Evans. The film is an unusual hybrid: the Twenty Questions sections take place in a studio recording of the BBC radio programme with the regular panellists and presenter. This is threaded into the plot as the clues trigger a series of murders, each linked to the clue.

<i>Murder in Reverse</i> 1945 British film

Murder in Reverse is a 1945 British thriller film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring William Hartnell, Jimmy Hanley and Chili Bouchier. It is based on the story Query by "Seamark".

<i>Alias John Preston</i> 1955 British film by David MacDonald

Alias John Preston is a 1955 British 'B' thriller film directed by David MacDonald and starring Christopher Lee, Betta St. John and Alexander Knox. A mysterious and wealthy man moves to a small village where he outwardly appears to be a friendly figure but nurses a dangerous secret.

<i>Night Was Our Friend</i> 1951 film

Night Was Our Friend is a 1951 British drama film directed by Michael Anderson and starring Elizabeth Sellars, Michael Gough and Ronald Howard. The title references a line from Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid.

References

  1. Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN   9783110951943 via Google Books.
  2. "The Last Man to Hang". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
  3. "The Last Man to Hang? (1956)". Archived from the original on 13 February 2017.
  4. Action! Fifty Years in the Life of a Union. Published: 1983 (UK). Publisher: ACTT. ISBN   0 9508993 0 5. ACT Films Limited - Ralph Bond p81 (producer listed as John Gossage)
  5. "The Last Man to Hang (1956) - Terence Fisher - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie".
  6. "The Last Man to Hang". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 23 (264): 131. 1 January 1956 via ProQuest.
  7. Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 107. ISBN   978-1-8445-7319-6.
  8. Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 581. ISBN   0586088946.
  9. Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 336. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.
  10. Newman, Kim (2022). "The Last Man To Hang". In Upton, Julian (ed.). Offbeat: British Cinema's Curiosities, Obscurities and Forgotten Items (2nd ed.). Headpress. pp. 23–25. ISBN   9781909394933.