True Crime Movies

[sdreid]

Poor management is at least as likely it seems.

[sdreid]

Well, Marie Celeste is true but we don't know if it involved a crime or not.

[Rob Clack]

Thanks Jeff,

Margetson also appeared in The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (The Phantom Ship) with Bela Lugosi and Denis Hoey (Lestrade in the Rathbone films) and it also happens to be a Hammer Film.

Rob

[Mayerling]

Arthur Margetson

No, it is very loosely based on the Camden Town murder. The Robert Woods character is married in thia film. The actor who played him whose name escapes me at the moment appeared om one of tje Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films (Faces Death)

Hi all,

I checked on the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDb) website. The actor who was in this film and Sherlock Holmes Faces Death was Arthur Margetson, who according to that website was born in 1887 and died in 1951. Margetson had some role in Random Harvest, apparently. I was reading the summary of the plot, and it somehow anticipates Billy Wilder's version of Agatha Christie's "Witness For the Prosecution", as the central figure, a great barrister, has to relax for his health but is convinced instead to take on a prominent current murder case defense. Except for the character actress Kathleen Harrison, none of the performers (including Margetson) are known to me. As the barrister is suffering from heart disease, they have apparently combined the true life characters of Sir Edward Marshall-Hall and Sir Henry Curtis-Bennett (who defended Edith Thompson). Curtis-Bennett, a very stout man, did not take adequate care of himself by dieting as his doctor recommended, and his concentration on his case load led to his premature, early death.

The fictional barrister apparently had a lost love in his background, who connects him to the defendant. Interestingly enough Marshall-Hall's first wife turned out to be promiscuous. She died in a rather horrible manner, killed by an abortionist - doctor in 1894.

Jeff

[sdreid]

It's comfortably in my top 5 true crime films.

[Rosella]

I still find 10 Rillington Place quite realistic, for the standard version of the Christie killings. (I happen to believe Tim Evans killed his wife and daughter.)

I watched it again only a few months ago. Apparently while they were filming it Richard Attenborough couldn't leave Reginald Christie at the studio, so his wife went off and lived elsewhere until filming was done, as he was giving her the creeps!

[Rob Clack]

No, it is very loosely based on the Camden Town murder. The Robert Woods character is married in thia film. The actor who played him whose name escapes me at the moment appeared om one of tje Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films (Faces Death)

[sdreid]

Is there a Sickert character in it?

[sdreid]

I haven't seen that one yet Rob - thanks.

[Rob Clack]

Just had a watch of 'The Great Defender' for the first time. Can't find out to much about the film but the main character is clearly based on Sir Edward Marshall Hall. The story appears to be based on the Camden Town Murder as there are a few similarities. A good film, a bit creaky (it was made in 1934) and some risqué for the time photography. Worth a watch.

[Shelley]

When i saw " 10 Rillington Place (1971-U.K.-1:51) The story of serial killer John Christie " i thought it was a good movie, wonder if they may do any remakes.

[sdreid]

Henry:Portrait of a serial killer is available to watch on you tube.Its about Henry Lee Lucas and his partner Otis Toole. Like Lucas's criminal career, it is embellished; but it is not for the feint hearted.

As I understand it, the board originally gave it an X rating due to violence but it was later released unrated after the passage of some time.

[Ginger]

I would call them the Yogi and Boo-boo of serial killers.

That image is gonna stick with me.

[sdreid]

Weren't Henry and Otis sweet pair!

Yes, low-life would have been a step up for them.

[Scorpio]

Weren't Henry and Otis sweet pair!

I would call them the Yogi and Boo-boo of serial killers.