Swinging coffee bars, cigarettes, jazz, youthful delinquency and a copper gets killed. Did Adam Faith pull the trigger? Can Anne Baxter prove his innocence in time?Swinging coffee bars, cigarettes, jazz, youthful delinquency and a copper gets killed. Did Adam Faith pull the trigger? Can Anne Baxter prove his innocence in time?Swinging coffee bars, cigarettes, jazz, youthful delinquency and a copper gets killed. Did Adam Faith pull the trigger? Can Anne Baxter prove his innocence in time?
Ed Devereaux
- Supt. Malley
- (as Edward Devereaux)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAn English version of Richie Valens' La Bamba is performed by Adam Faith.
- Quotes
Philip Bellamy, QC: If it's any reassurance to you, in 1948 our future Lord Chancellor said in Parliament: "In this country, there is no practical possibility of an innocent person being hanged". I share that opinion.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Bandstand: Episode dated 17 November 1962 (1962)
Featured review
Clunky mystery with young Adam Faith giving better performance than more seasoned actors
Adam Faith shows Anne Baxter and Donald Sinden a thing or two about natural acting. While they play to the gallery, the 50s/60s pop idol nicely underplays his part as a young lad charged with murder. The scriptwriter/production designer/director has a ludicrous, but typical idea of what 'upper-class' Sinden calls a teddy-boy (already a dated idea in 1962.) Faith and his mates are a neatly attired, clean-cut crowd, hanging out in an espresso bar, decked with pictures of Ella Fitzgerald and Chris Barber (!) - a more likely venue for 40 year olds at that time. It was the pre-Beatles era, and most British films were very myopic in their portrayals of youth, although 'Saturday Night and Sunday Morning' had hit the screens two years previously. This does seem like the Tunbridge-Wells version of youth gone astray,and accordingly it wasn't exactly a box-office smash. The clunky plot has more than one handy coincidence, and while the portrayal of the working classes is condescending, at least Anne Baxter's psychiatrist character gets to voice her opinion that people are human beings and should be treated as such. Jack MacGowran shines as a villain, as does Alfred Burke as a humane screw, and it's good to see Aussies Ed Deveraux and Ray Barrett playing senior coppers, but generally the whole pic is just a budget cut above one of the typical British supporting features that were still being produced at the time.
helpful•133
- BOUF
- Jul 12, 2008
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Der Henker kann warten
- Filming locations
- Shepperton Studios, Studios Road, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK(studio: made at Shepperton Studios, England)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 56 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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