The British seem to have more interesting murderers than America, disregarding the current serial killer mania. The British have Jack the Ripper, Christie and Crippen, and what have we got? Lizzie Borden, and that's all.
Crippen was a doctor who, in 1910, poisoned his virago of a horny wife, disarticulated her body, hid it, and ran off with his pretty young secretary, Ethel La Neve.
According to this story, Crippen poisoned his wife by accident. La Neve had no idea she was dead and disposed of, believing Crippen's story that the wife had run off to America with one of her many boyfriends. When he comes under suspicion by Scotland Yard, Crippen tries to pull the same stunt. Well -- if you can mismanage an escape, this one is thoroughly bungled. Crippen shaves his mustache and disguises La Neve (played by the succulent and beautiful Samantha Eggar) as a boy. On the ship to America, the deceit is obvious, if for no other reason than that Crippen keeps grabbing his "son's" ass in public. The wireless is put to work and the duo are met by the Canadian police, returned to England, and Crippen gets the noose while La Neve goes free.
No one can fault the performances. Donald Pleasance plays Crippen as a henpecked husband who stifles every emotion. Coral Browne is his frowzy, unfastidious wife always importuning her husband to bed her, which he hasn't done in years. (It's pretty frank about these matters.) But Pleasance doesn't seem to have any trouble with Ethel La Neve. Why should he? Not being the right kind of maven I don't know how closely the film hews to the historical record. The framing story is Crippen's trial and there are many flashbacks, sometimes illustrating events the witness could never have seen. The writing is clumsy and the direction pedestrian. It's a bald presentation of the facts, done with what appears to be a limited budget. It's artless. There is no poetry.
There could have been an entirely different take on the matter. Ethel La Neve -- Homewrecker. She's Crippen's typist and wears low-cut dresses to work. She seduces Crippen who is, after all, every young lady's dream -- a doctor -- and persuades the smitten doc to get rid of the harridan at home and bury her dismembered corpse in the cellar.
Still, there is an adult intelligence at work behind the flavorless presentation of fact and fancy. Every character is given a touch of some humanity, from Crippen the murderer, through his loveless wife, to the corrections officer at the jail before Crippen gets it in the neck. It's too bad that it all comes out rather spiritless.
Crippen was a doctor who, in 1910, poisoned his virago of a horny wife, disarticulated her body, hid it, and ran off with his pretty young secretary, Ethel La Neve.
According to this story, Crippen poisoned his wife by accident. La Neve had no idea she was dead and disposed of, believing Crippen's story that the wife had run off to America with one of her many boyfriends. When he comes under suspicion by Scotland Yard, Crippen tries to pull the same stunt. Well -- if you can mismanage an escape, this one is thoroughly bungled. Crippen shaves his mustache and disguises La Neve (played by the succulent and beautiful Samantha Eggar) as a boy. On the ship to America, the deceit is obvious, if for no other reason than that Crippen keeps grabbing his "son's" ass in public. The wireless is put to work and the duo are met by the Canadian police, returned to England, and Crippen gets the noose while La Neve goes free.
No one can fault the performances. Donald Pleasance plays Crippen as a henpecked husband who stifles every emotion. Coral Browne is his frowzy, unfastidious wife always importuning her husband to bed her, which he hasn't done in years. (It's pretty frank about these matters.) But Pleasance doesn't seem to have any trouble with Ethel La Neve. Why should he? Not being the right kind of maven I don't know how closely the film hews to the historical record. The framing story is Crippen's trial and there are many flashbacks, sometimes illustrating events the witness could never have seen. The writing is clumsy and the direction pedestrian. It's a bald presentation of the facts, done with what appears to be a limited budget. It's artless. There is no poetry.
There could have been an entirely different take on the matter. Ethel La Neve -- Homewrecker. She's Crippen's typist and wears low-cut dresses to work. She seduces Crippen who is, after all, every young lady's dream -- a doctor -- and persuades the smitten doc to get rid of the harridan at home and bury her dismembered corpse in the cellar.
Still, there is an adult intelligence at work behind the flavorless presentation of fact and fancy. Every character is given a touch of some humanity, from Crippen the murderer, through his loveless wife, to the corrections officer at the jail before Crippen gets it in the neck. It's too bad that it all comes out rather spiritless.