The Last Page (1952)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Terence Fisher

Writers:

James Hadley Chase (play)
Frederick Knott (writer)

Release Date:

25 January 1952 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Look if you like...but look out! She's Man Bait!

Plot:

The married owner of a bookstore is attracted to his sexy blonde clerk. He finally gives in to temptation and makes a pass at her, but that only results in him getting enmeshed in blackmail and murder. |

Plot Keywords:

Clerk | Blackmail | Murder | Beautiful Woman | Based On Play

Cast

George Brent	...	John Harman
Marguerite Chapman	...	Stella Tracy
Raymond Huntley	...	Clive Oliver
Peter Reynolds	...	Jeffrey Hart
Eleanor Summerfield	...	Vi
Meredith Edwards	...	Inspector Dale
Harry Fowler	...	Joe, clerk
Diana Dors	...	Ruby Bruce
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sybil Saxon	...	Bank Clerk (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Man Bait (USA)

Runtime:

84 min | USA:78 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Man Bait - only a modest catch for the viewer

In 1950, before Hammer made a name for itself with a memorable horror output, it set up a deal with American producer Robert L. Lippert to make a dozen or so low budget crime dramas, all of which were to be shot in the UK. In all the arrangement lasted for some five years, and utilised the fading star qualities of such past-their-sell-date American talent such as Dane Clark, Paul Henreid, Lizabeth Scott and George Brent, as well as leading British character actors.

None of the films are of the front rank, being issued originally on the bottom half of double bills. Hammer may not have established itself as a memorable producer of noir on the basis of this transatlantic deal, but the results have been unfairly neglected (being the basis of only a passing reference in the official history of the studio for instance).

Criticism of the films, apart from focusing on their small budgets and hand-me-down leads, has generally dwelt on the success or otherwise of transplanting an American hardboiled genre into a different soil. Certainly the first of those made under the new arrangement The Last Page (aka: Man Bait, 1952) is example. Far too genteel to be successful as more than a mildly suspenseful thriller, its impact is further affected by the unassuming performance of lead George Brent - an actor whom Betty Davies apparently liked as a partner on screen as it was so easy to steal the picture from him! Brent plays the manager of a bookshop, hardly the first choice for a thriller/ noir setting (although one makes a memorable appearance in The Big Sleep) who is blackmailed by the bad blonde of the title - no less than Diana Dors, an early screen role. It was an early credit too for one of Hammer's best directors Terence Fisher, though again this critic, at least, thinks he remains a minor talent. Like practically all the Hammer films in this series, the title was changed for the American market and 'Man Bait' certainly sounds more the job for the pulp world that the films inhabit. It also places Dors firmly at the centre of this film with a fine sense of atmosphere - having worked in the book trade for some years I found the dated interiors and procedures especially fascinating - while some other, equally effective location shooting amidst a now-lost London adds to the charm.