The Large Rope
| The Large Rope | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Directed by | Wolf Rilla |
| Written by | Ted Willis |
| Produced by | Victor Hanbury |
| Starring | Donald Houston Susan Shaw Robert Brown |
| Cinematography | Geoffrey Faithfull |
| Edited by | Peter Graham Scott |
| Music by | Ronald Binge |
Production company | Victor Hanbury Productions (as Insignia) |
| Distributed by | United Artists Corporation (UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 72 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Large Rope (also known as The Long Rope) is a 1953 British crime film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Donald Houston, Susan Shaw and Robert Brown.[1]
Plot
[edit]Tom Penney returns to his village after serving three years in prison for an assault that he did not commit, determined to take his revenge on those who framed him. He meets hostility from most of the village including his father, but his mother is glad to see him, and his former girlfriend, Susan, who is about to be married that day, finds her old feelings for him resurface. Amy Jordan, the flirtatious married woman he is supposed to have assaulted three years ago, is found dead in nearby woods just as the wedding is due to begin, and Susan runs from the church when she hears the news. Tom is taken in by the police for questioning, but escapes, and both he and the police try to discover the killer, while most of the villagers, convinced that Tom is the murderer, form a lynch mob.
Cast
[edit]- Donald Houston as Tom Penney
- Susan Shaw as Susan Hamble
- Robert Brown as Mick Jordan
- Vanda Godsell as Amy Jordan
- Peter Byrne as Jeff Stribling
- Richard Warner as Inspector Harmer
- Christine Finn as May
- Thomas Heathcote as James Gore
- Katie Johnson as Grandmother (uncredited)
- Hilda Fenemore as Pub Landlady (uncredited)
Critical reception
[edit]The film historians Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane describe The Large Rope as an "excellent thriller", adding that it has "an arresting narrative premise and an unsentimental view of the potential mean-spiritedness of village life".[2]
References
[edit]- ^ BFI Database entry
- ^ Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, The British 'B' Film, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, p. 139.
External links
[edit]
 | This article related to a British film of the 1950s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This 1950s crime film-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 1953 films
- 1953 crime films
- Films directed by Wolf Rilla
- British crime films
- British black-and-white films
- Films with screenplays by Ted Willis, Baron Willis
- Films about murder
- 1950s English-language films
- 1950s British films
- Films scored by Ronald Binge
- English-language crime films
- 1950s British film stubs
- 1950s crime film stubs