Wanted for Murder

1946
6.8| 1h41m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 02 November 1946 Released
Producted By: Marcel Hellman Productions
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

The son of a notorious hangman is gradually becoming insane and he finds himself unable to resist the urge to strangle women to death.

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Marcel Hellman Productions

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Reviews

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
lucyrfisher 1946 - when women were still wearing that strange 40s aesthetic with huge, unflattering hair styles. See Colebrooke's secretary, who thinks he'll marry her one day when in fact he is planning to strangle her on Wimbledon Common. (Not a spoiler, we know he is the killer from the start.) I like Derek Farr, and the scene where he picks up Anne on a tube train that's broken down. Dulcie Gray must have been about 30, and I'm sorry, but she doesn't look as young as her character is meant to be (19 or so?). The scene at the fair is good, too, with the Punch and Judy man and the gramophone operator. It's nice to see Bonar Colleano as an American soldier and witness, and Kathleen Harrison is good as the Colebrookes' maid. Mrs Colebrooke, as another commenter said, gives us a glimpse of acting styles of the past (circa 1840). There are effective moments as Colebrooke's skinny, moustachio'd tail follows him along the river bank, and there is a splended scene as Inspector Conway overrules the jobsworth of jobsworths. Best moment, though, is when squads of coppers in old-fashioned helmets, and on horseback, descend on Hyde Park. Colebrooke attempts escape by boat and by water. High melodrama in the Serpentine is a challenge, but Eric Portman rises to it. It's all rather ludicrous, and not a patch on Canterbury Tale or Dear Murderer. Yes, there's much too much faffing about at Scotland Yard, and the intended humour just isn't funny, despite Stanley Holloway's efforts.The sound on this transfer is so bad that some of the dialogue is lost.
Spikeopath Wanted for Murder is directed by Lawrence Huntington and adapted to screenplay by Emeric Pressburger, Rodney Ackland, Barbara Everest and Maurice Cowan from the play by Terence De Marney and Percy Robinson. It stars Eric Portman, Dulcie Gray, Derek Farr, Roland Culver and Stanley Holloway. Music is by Mischa Spoliansky and cinematography by Mutz Greenbaum.Nifty little thriller noir this, basically it finds Portman as the sinister Victor James Colebrook, a man with murderous instincts born out by bad seed lineage in his family tree. Can intrepid Chief Inspector Conway (Culver) nail his man before he kills yet again? Imperative since Victor has latched onto Anne Fielding (Gray), and although he is in love with her, he doesn't know how long he can contain his blood lust.Thought to be influenced by a real life serial killer, Huntington's movie is very Hitchcockian in tone. Story unfolds by night in a London of dimly lighted foggy streets and dense shadowed parks, and by day it's the hustle and bustle of the city that provides a backdrop of false normalcy. As the tormented Victor goes about his way, leading his double life as a cunning member of society who dotes on his mother – and that of a strangler of women – the makers ensure the surroundings suit the persona.A chapter of the story set at a carnival pulses with unease, a visit to a wax museum really gets to the heart of the evil, a murder sequence that is off camera strikes all the right terrifying notes, and a quite brilliant passage that sees witnesses come face to face with the killer in Conway's office is superbly performed by all involved. Then there is the finale that plays out at night (naturally) at the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park. Wonderful!Portman (A Canterbury Tale/Dear Murderer) was a British treasure, an actor whose career begs for reappraisal by classic film fans. Here he is right on the money as the complex sociopath who detests what he has become and even dangles clues for the police to follow. Yet he also slips easily into society with a measured calmness that is rather chilling. Portman quite simply is excellent. As are Culver and Holloway as the sort of coppers Britain could do with having more of these days!With Pressburger as part of the writing team it's no surprise to find the script tight and the dialogue snappy, Huntington (The Upturned Glass) and Greenbaum (Night and the City) never miss the chance to accentuate the psychological tremors by way of smart visuals, and Spoliansky's music is devilishly spectral like. It probably could have been shorn of ten minutes and the Dulcie Gray/Derek Farr romance gets a little twee at times, but this is well worth checking out and deserves to be better known. 8/10
Alex da Silva Eric Portman (Viktor) is the grandson of a notorious hangman. His grandfather's sadistic, psychotic reputation as a killer plays heavily on Portman's psyche. Actually, it does more than that - it influences his behaviour. However, he is unable to change who he is. A serial killer is at large murdering women and goading the police. Can Roland Culver (Inspector Conway) and his team prevent the killer from striking again and again....? This film contains some dodgy accents, in particular, a very posh bus driver as played by Derek Farr (Jack) and a young Scottish woman, Jenny Laird (Jeannie), who comes from absolutely nowhere in Scotland. There are humorous moments eg, Stanley Holloway's portrayal of "Sgt Sullivan" and Gerard Kempinski as a waiter, alongside tense dramatic sections, eg, the murder of Jenny Laird (Jeannie) in the park. I found Barbara Everest as "Mrs Colebrooke" slightly weird b t it's a minor point in an otherwise convincing tale of a killer who is born to kill. We are left in no doubt as to who the killer is from the beginning and this adds to the tension throughout the film. I thought that the killer's fate was rather convenient - an easy way to end the film - but it's still a good film.
Steve Tarter Erudite British effort where the strangler comes off as quite civilized. He's quite the gentleman, really, just has this problem with his hands.Really enjoyed Stanley Holloway as the #2-cop on the case. Stanley doesn't break into song but he does provide some comedic relief--subtle stuff, no slapstick.You can't help but be fascinated by the many views of London that are pictured (immediately after the war). The buses, street scenes, and various landmarks shown on film tell a story of their own. How times have changed--the record shop scene is a far cry from the rocking London that would follow 20 years later.This is well-written (Emeric Pressburger had a hand in that) story with characters that are decidely human, albeit in the English stiff-upper-lip school.