Eight O'Clock Walk (1954)

Taxicab driver Tom Banning is led to an abandoned bomb-site by an eight-year-old girl as an April-fool prank. The girl is later found murdered and Manning is picked up by Scotland Yard for ... See full summary »

Director:

Lance Comfort

Writers:

Jack Roffey (story), Gordon Harboard (story),

Stars:

Richard Attenborough, Cathy O'Donnell, Derek Farr

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Attenborough	...	Thomas 'Tom' Leslie Manning
Cathy O'Donnell	...	Jill Manning
Derek Farr	...	Peter Tanner
Ian Hunter	...	Geoffrey Tanner
Maurice Denham	...	Horace Clifford
Bruce Seton	...	Detective Chief Inspector
Lily Kann	...	Mrs. Adeline Zunz
Harry Welchman	...	Justice Harrington
Kynaston Reeves	...	Munro
Eithne Dunne	...	Mrs. Evans
Cheryl Molineaux	...	Irene Evans
Totti Truman Taylor	...	Miss Ribden-White
Robert Adair	...	Albert Pettigrew
Grace Arnold	...	Mrs. Higgs
David Hannaford	...	Ernie Higgs

Storyline

Taxicab driver Tom Banning is led to an abandoned bomb-site by an eight-year-old girl as an April-fool prank. The girl is later found murdered and Manning is picked up by Scotland Yard for questioning and is later arrested and charged with murder. The trial is scheduled for London's Old Bailey. Manning's wife, Jill, convinced he is innocent, fights for and wins the sympathy of Council-for-the-Defense Peter Tanner, and he is opposed at the trail by his father, prosecuting-attorney Geoffrey Tanner. The trail is presided over by Justice Harrington, whose wife is in the hospital undergoing an operation. It soon becomes evident, following the testimony of prosecution-witness Horace Clifford, that the evidence points to Manning's guilt. During a recess, Peter Tanner sees Clifford outside the courthouse, giving candy to a young girl. Farr identifies the candy as being the same brand as that found on the murdered girl. The judge's wife has died, but the trial resumes with Tanner recalling ...

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Plot Keywords:

trial | candy | testimony | operation | evidence | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 May 1954 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Aprilmordet

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Aviation Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Soundtracks

"All My Life"
(uncredited)
Written by George Melachrino and Francis Edwards (i.e. Johnny Brandon)

User Reviews

Very watchable film- why I am the first to comment?

What I shame that I appear to be one of the few people out there (well, at least on IMDb) that have seen this very credible little film. I viewed it on a VHS double bill with another Richard Attenborough film, the better known "Brighton Rock", and found it well worth the time. Attenborough find himself accused and on trial for the murder of a little girl. He is innocent, but all circumstantial evidence points against him. Only his sweet, devoted wife Cathy O'Donnell and his stand-in lawyer, Derek Farr, are willing to believe him.

I thought that this film captured the trial scenes particularly well, and they feel real. Richard Attenborough, a fine choice for the role, does well in conveying his character's fear and confusion at a situation he never expected to happen. The murder of children was not a subject touched very often in American films in those days, and this must be one of the first post-"M" (Fritz Lang's brilliant, groundbreaking German film with Peter Lorre as the whistling pedophile)films to deal with the subject. The film is neatly directed and edited, and it really is worth checking out. Hopefully this won't be the only comment that this film ever receives!