This movie conveys graphically the horror of murder and capital punishment. The injustices which a system of capital punishment can bring about comes across in the trial of the backward and gullible Timothy Evans, played beautifully by John Hurt. Evans is tricked by the brighter and devious Mr Christie into believing his wife died accidentally from an abortion. When the police investigate, Christie is able to turn all the evidence against Evans, a man not intelligent and articulate enough to defend himself. The ineptitude of the police of that day is shown in their readiness to listen to Christie and get an easy conviction against poor Timothy Evans.
The film captures, with honesty and realism, the bleakness of post-war London and the loneliness of its less glamorous parts. Attenborough's performance as the psychopathic Christie is first-class. The sheer emptiness and insignificance of Christie as a person and the horrifying actions that stem from a man whose world has shrunken, is put across powerfully. The execution of Evans is shown to be cold blooded and calculated, making it an act morally no better than the terrible murders.
Finally, to the film's credit when Christie is arrested we are not shown his hanging, and no fanfares are sounded for his conviction. The whole episode is just one of many shameful chapters in British justice. There are some ongoing and no doubt others are yet to be written.
The film captures, with honesty and realism, the bleakness of post-war London and the loneliness of its less glamorous parts. Attenborough's performance as the psychopathic Christie is first-class. The sheer emptiness and insignificance of Christie as a person and the horrifying actions that stem from a man whose world has shrunken, is put across powerfully. The execution of Evans is shown to be cold blooded and calculated, making it an act morally no better than the terrible murders.
Finally, to the film's credit when Christie is arrested we are not shown his hanging, and no fanfares are sounded for his conviction. The whole episode is just one of many shameful chapters in British justice. There are some ongoing and no doubt others are yet to be written.