The crime of the century! Was he really guilty? Donald Pleasence stars as Doctor Hawley Harvey Crippen in this tale based on a true story. Was he really guilty of poisoning his wife?
Wonderful to finally have this movie on DVD, as it has been rarely shown on television over the years. The film is based on the notorious true case of Hawley Harvey Crippen in 1910. Donald Pleasence gives an understated performance as Crippen, the doctor relentlessly bullied by his vitriolic wife Belle, played to great effect by Coral Browne. She is a second rate music hall singer who flaunts her lovers in front of her timid husband and berates him for neglecting her in the bedroom. Crippen finds solace in the arms of his secretary, Ethel Le Neve (Samantha Eggar) who he moves into his home when his wife disappears. Belle's friends become suspicious when Ethel is seen wearing Mrs Crippen's clothes and jewellery and do not believe the Doctor's story of her returning to and subsequently dying in America. Crippen persuades his lover to run away with him, convincing her that the police may arrest him unfairly if they stay, even getting her to disguise herself as a boy on board the ship they sail on to avoid suspicion. A highly enjoyable film with great performances.
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Donald Pleasance stars as the notorious Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen, the monstrous Edwardian murderer eventually hung for killing his wife.
The chilling true story of Doctor Hawley Harvey Crippen, the murderer whose crimes caused a sensation in Edwardian society and who went to the gallows still protesting his innocence.
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