Wanted for Murder

Rating:
Summary: Terrific movie. Good DVD.
Review: Very surprised to see this come out on DVD. I'd seen this on TV in England about 15 years ago and loved it on first viewing.

The basic premise concerns a series of grisly murders gripping the city of London. The crimes in question being committed by a man haunted by his deceased father, whose job was official hangman for Her Majesty. With the killer seemingly one step ahead of the police, it becomes a tense game of cat and mouse.

I won't go into all the plot details except to say that of course, being 1946 and shot in glorious black and white, everything is implied. The murder scenes are fairly quick and the camera lingers just long enough to give the audience a sense of dread. Having said that, you have to wonder what people back then made of a movie about strangulations.

To offset the gruesome tone, the movie is filled with some nice light humor to balance things out -- one running gag involves a detective's wife being a crime buff who thinks the murderer's name rings a bell. Every so often he'd chime in, ("My missus was saying the other day..."). Very droll!

The writers took care to ensure the police are not seen as bumbling fools but as careful, methodical crime stoppers. Despite having their guy tailed and losing him on one occasion, they still manage to follow all leads with skill.

The cast are wonderful. Eric Portman as the killer is really quite frightening. He plays a man with a double-life -- successful businessman by day, killer by night -- preying on young, unsuspecting girls. His fast-talking menace and evil glare make him quite memorable. Roland Culver does a superb job as the police chief. A year earlier, Culver appeared in the outstanding British horror, Dead of Night. As the killer's girlfriend, the very pretty Dulcie Gray is ideal for the part. She has no idea her controlling boyfriend is responsible for the terror gripping London! With her incredibly well spoken accent (the real Queen's English!) she makes her scenes thoroughly enjoyable.

If one thing makes this movie stand out (in my mind at least), it it the music. The main theme (A Voice in the Night) plays an integral role and is used throughout the movie. The killer is haunted by the theme and insists his girlfriend play it for him -- she works at a gramaphone shop in the City (no megastore's here!). At one point, the killer also makes one of his victims sing it before taking her life (the only time it's heard with lyrics). Amazingly, the theme is (or was) available on CD on a compilation of British movies from the 30's and 40's.

The DVD itself is fairly no-frills. There's a very cool trailer -- lots of big, in your face words across the screen (TERROR GRIPS THE CITY!!) complete with over-the-top voice over. It's a great addition. Some photo stills (appear to be screen shots of the movie) are included but feel like they were added to pad things out.

For some reason, the first reel had terrible picture and sound quality. The blacks and whites looked saturated, as if the threshold was way off (resembling a bad photocopy). And major hissing drowned things out. But after that, everything was fine. Considering the source, this is a pretty good job and for any fan of the movie, a worthy purchase.