There are two great shames about this film, the social one and the misuse of one of the 1950's best English actors, Lana Morris. She had poise, beauty and a voice as distinctive as Kay Kendall or Joan Greenwood. And she could really act convincingly. For some reason she hardly ever got a major role, but her comic abilities can be seen with Norman Wisdom in 'Trouble in Store' and with him again in another film. I cannot stand Wisdom's films, but for her I will watch these two. Why she was not given a 'Genevieve' moment like Kay Kendall I will never understand. She was also given the role of 'girl' in 'Passport to Shame' Just 'girl' and no name. The irony of the word shame sums it up in an industry that often cannot see true individuality staring at them from the screen. Other than Janet Leigh and Jean Simmons she was the only actor in my childhood I fell in love with; that is until I found Dean Stockwell and James Dean.
This film is not dreadful. It is a minor, well acted drama on the plight of a woman being held for murder who could well have been hung. And in a too subtle way it begs the question of how many innocent people were hung by the neck until dead for acts they never committed. The shame is in the ending, where she shows no sorrow, no anger, at what she has been through and actually shakes the hand of the inspector who arrested her. The film should have shown its possible true colours: that hanging is not the answer. It is also a pity the makers of the film did not rise to addressing further why there could not have been a better investigation in the first place. This is not 'Dial M for Murder' where Grace Kelly is allowed a breakdown or Diana Dors' harrowing conviction and death in 'Yield to the Night'. This is a minor, important footnote to capital punishment with excellent acting by the cast.
Another shame was the gay stereotype in the jewellers shop. A lot of shames here in a film that punches well above its weight.
This film is not dreadful. It is a minor, well acted drama on the plight of a woman being held for murder who could well have been hung. And in a too subtle way it begs the question of how many innocent people were hung by the neck until dead for acts they never committed. The shame is in the ending, where she shows no sorrow, no anger, at what she has been through and actually shakes the hand of the inspector who arrested her. The film should have shown its possible true colours: that hanging is not the answer. It is also a pity the makers of the film did not rise to addressing further why there could not have been a better investigation in the first place. This is not 'Dial M for Murder' where Grace Kelly is allowed a breakdown or Diana Dors' harrowing conviction and death in 'Yield to the Night'. This is a minor, important footnote to capital punishment with excellent acting by the cast.
Another shame was the gay stereotype in the jewellers shop. A lot of shames here in a film that punches well above its weight.