THE LIMPING MAN
UK, 1953, 76 minutes, Black and white.
Lloyd Bridges, Moira Lister, Alan Wheatley, Leslie Philipis, Helene Cordet.
Directed by Charles De Lautour (Cy Endfield).
This is a small British film of the mid 1950s, written and directed by site and field but directed under the name of Charles De Lautour. Enfield directed some small-budget films at this time, especially in England and was later to have some success, in the mid-1960s, with Zulu.
By the end, audiences for this thriller may feel somewhat cheated – Lloyd Bridges, the hero who was in England during the war flies back to England after seven years to make the woman he loved, but, after an hour or more of sensational dreaming, wakes up!
Ignoring this ending might be best. When Bridges arrives in London and asks for a light for a cigarette on the tarmac, a sniper kills the man he was talking to. He is interrogated by the police (including a young Leslie Phillips), tracks down his actress friend (Moira Lister) who is not at the airport to meet him. There are quite some connections. She has been in liaison with the dead man who has a disreputable reputation, is a smuggler and, with her sport skills, has collaborated in trafficking using her yacht. He has formally been married to a dancer who performs with a magician on stage and has formally identified his body. The door manager of the theatre is the limping man and has a walking stick with a rifle.
Lots of complications with Bridges and Lister, remembering old times, going on the river in her yacht, having suspicious meetings at a waterside pub, her holding a party, trying to escape, her confiding that letters she wrote to the criminal are being held for blackmail payment – and the revelation that he is not dead!
Just as it was getting all complicated, Bridges wakes up.
1. Small-budget supporting feature of the 1950s? American star? British cast?
2. The London settings, the airport, apartments, the theatre, backstage, on the river, pubs, the police? The musical score? The songs and the theatrical performances?
3. The credibility of the plot, the complications and intrigues – and audience reaction to it all being a nightmare on the plane? And the interrogating police being the pilots!
4. Frank Pryor, his war career, in Britain, his friendship with Pauline, the years passing, his return? On the flight? On the tarmac, the death of the man, Frank being interrogated by the police? The address, Pauline? Her not turning up? His going to find her, renewing their friendship, her sport skills, on the boat on the Thames?
5. The police, clues, the dead man, the photo, going to his house, Pauline hurrying away from the police? Her being an actress? The theatre?
6. The anonymity of the dead man, the photo in his pocket, leading to his identity, his flat and the police visit? His relationship with the singer? The separation? Suspicions of his criminality?
7. Frank, the visit to the theatre, the suspicious man at the pub, talking with Pauline?
8. The party, Frank and his visit, Pauline telling the truth, her letters to the dead man, the singer and her wanting the money? Escaping from the party, watching the television with the family? Going to the theatre? The singer and her control of Pauline? The revelation that the dead man was actually alive? His deal of the letters, wanting Pauline to smuggle him to the continent?
9. The arrival of the police, the suspicious limping man, the wife falsely identifying her husband, the theatre, the fight, his death?
10. Almost resolution – and Frank waking up in the plane?
