Eight O'Clock Walk (1954)

In post-WW2 England, a taxi driver is ostracized by society after he's accused of murdering a school-girl and his untried lawyer must find the real killer to save his client from the hangman.

Director:

Lance Comfort

Writers:

Jack Roffey (from an original story), Gordon Harboard (from an original story) (as Gordon Harbord)

Stars:

Richard Attenborough, Cathy O'Donnell, Derek Farr

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Attenborough	...	Tom Manning
Cathy O'Donnell	...	Jill Manning
Derek Farr	...	Peter Tanner
Ian Hunter	...	Geoffrey Tanner, Q.C.
Maurice Denham	...	Horace Clifford
Bruce Seton	...	D.C.I.
Harry Welchman	...	Mr. Justice Harrington
Kynaston Reeves	...	Mr. Munro
Lily Kann	...	Mrs. Zunz (as Lilly Kann)
Eithne Dunne	...	Mrs. Evans
Cheryl Molineaux	...	Irene Evans
Totti Truman Taylor	...	Miss Ribden-White
Robert Adair	...	Mr. 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 trial 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:

scotland yard | cross examination | british noir | murder of a child | wrong man | 

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Taglines:

Was her husband the murderer of an innocent girl ?

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Goofs

Actors playing members of the jury differ in separate shots.

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Soundtracks

Oranges and Lemons
(uncredited)
Traditional
Arranged by George Melachrino

User Reviews

Foul play at the bombed out streets of London

A melodrama that looks at the legal system that suddenly adds dashes of Perry Mason into the mix. Richard Attenborough plays a local friendly cabbie who gets trick or treated by a gang of kids early in the morning. He goes after them more in jest and later helps one of the girl's looking for her lost doll in the streets of post war London which still was littered with bomb sites

When the young girl is found dead Attenborough turns out to be the wrong man in the wrong place but all the evidence, circumstantial it might be points to him being the murderer. Of course we know it's not him as we see a man in a bowler hat shown in silhouette who approached he girl after Attenborough left the girl and this shadowy man pops up later on. It really wants you to shout out 'its that man again' every time you see him

Attenborough's wife has a hard time to get a criminal solicitor who believes in his innocent, only later a dogged barrister reluctantly turns detective in order to unmask the real culprit

The film has a very realistic location setting of the post war London with kids running about on their own. Even the reluctance of the lawyers to take the case on was very much on the mark. The latter part of the film based on some random circumstances allowing the Barrister to think it the murderer is someone else and nearby is rather convenient but the film just about gets away with it.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 May 1954 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Eight O'Clock Walk

Filming Locations:

British Lion Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

British Lion Film Corporation, British Aviation Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1