joe-pearce-1 True "Blonde bombshells" of a starring nature come along only once or twice in a decade, and the number from, say, 1930 to 1960 is not all that many: Jean Harlow, Lana Turner, Marilyn Monroe, Diana Dors, Jayne Mansfield, Kim Novak, and that about does it. Of these, Harlow died too young and as an actress was memorable mainly in comedy, Turner turned into a very good actress as the years passed, Monroe was greatly loved but her true acting talent beyond her natural charisma was not really all that great, and Novak was passable. Mansfield was Mansfield. Diana Dors, however, despite her 'blonde bombshell' reputation and being probably the least beautiful of that group (one could hardly call her even very pretty) was a very legitimate actress, out of RADA, and gave excellent acting performances right from the start of her film career. Unfortunately, nobody seemed to notice at the time, which may have been her own fault for letting that reputation get out of hand.This is the very best I have seen her, and her outing here as the doomed murderess is about as good a lead female performance as any to be seen in English films of the 1950s. It is truly amazing that both her performance and this film are not better known. Maybe the Hollywood-made I WANT TO LIVE of two years later ended up stealing this film's thunder, as they both cover the imprisonment and pending death of the protagonist. But only a portion of Susan Hayward's performance takes place inside prison walls, whereas in this film, outside the opening and some flashbacks, the entire story takes place in less than 20 days in a holding cell, perhaps 20 x 25 feet in size, and goes outside it only when the prisoner is allowed out for exercise in a high-walled yard. That there are always two warders taking shifts in the holding cell with Dors, tending to her every need but also imposing a strict regimen upon her, somehow adds to the total claustrophobia of the film, and it is irrepressibly morbid from beginning to end. But it is also terrific! Although the major burden falls on Dors, every performance in the film save one is exceptional, that one being Michael Craig's as her suicidal boyfriend. Craig is a good actor, but he was the wrong choice here, as he simply never really seems like the kind of guy who could be brought to suicide by unrequited love. Lawrence Harvey might have been perfect for it. But the great Yvonne Mitchell, as the youngest warder, is superb. It seems as though, from beginning to end, she has but one expression, which never changes, on her face, yet we see the feelings she is hiding underneath at every moment, and ultimately learn that those feelings are not confined to only the prisoner's situation.Some reviews have mentioned this film as an indictment of capital punishment, but I don't see it that way, and only once in the entire film is anything said in that direction: One of the warders says that we mustn't forget the person Dors murdered, and another one answers that "...another death will not bring her back". Unlike in the Hayward film, we know right from the beginning that Dors is guilty of this crime, and although to the very end she never repents the murder, we still feel sympathy for her (I felt a lot more for her than for the Hayward character), surely a reaction engendered by the excellent screenplay, Dors' superb performance, and J. Lee Thompson's inventive direction. Given the budget and the acting talent on view here, I do not see how this film could have possibly been any better, and it should prove a major discovery to anyone now seeing it for the first time.

David Traversa Mesmerizing from beginning to end. Black and white photography, impeccable, giving you the feeling of the scene just by placing the camera in a position that exactly will tell you before hand what's coming. Amazing.And then there is the actress.She, unlike ANY actress of that period, appears most of the time with her face washed up and her hair with 4 inches of black roots, totally unconcerned with her looks for the camera, but she is ACTING. She is acting a storm, what an excellent actress!!In the flash backs the actress becomes DIANA DORS... Fully done with platinum hair, made up to kill and slipped into a dress too tight to believe, it could be painted on her naked body. The story takes its time to develop and little by little it starts building up the tension of her character. The timing is perfect, we get more and more involved with her suffering and waiting as anxiously as herself about her destiny.I don't have words to tell you what a superb movie this is, a film that I think will be impossible to produce nowadays, maybe Charlize Theron came close to this type of character in "Monster", but the feeling of the movie is totally different, the results of the 50s are the results of a civilization gone with the wind.To me, this movie is a masterpiece.

parcdelagrange Although the plot is a bit thin and the obvious similarities between this film and the hanging of Ruth Ellis the year previously (the main difference being that Ruth Ellis shot her boyfriend and the character played by Diana Dors shot her boyfriends lover after he committed suicide), the acting from Diana Dors is without fault, she puts her heart and soul into the part and outshines the other actors who appear, almost to the point that, beside her they appear somewhat wooden and contrived. The direction is well executed (no pun intended) and the photography is superb. The final outcome of the film is inevitable, but the portrayal of a woman clinging to a forlorn hope of getting a reprieve and the acceptance of her fate when it is denied, is made so realistic and believable by Diana Dors that it elevates this film into one of the great British films of all time.

lorenellroy The pompous dirigible Jean-Luc Godard ,like most French movie directors a man utterly in love with himself,or at least ,the idea of himself ,once said that all you really needed to make a movie were " a girl and a gun"At the opening of this movie it looks as if the makers had taken his dictum literally for that is precisely what we get.The girl is Mary Hutton (Diana Dors) and she pulls a gun from her handbag and shoots a man to death ,one she blames for her lover's suicide .It is an open and shut case -she is placed on trial for murder and sentenced to death by hanging .The majority of the movie takes place in her condemned cell as she waits the outcome of her appeal and relives the doomed affair with lover Jim (Michael Craig) What sets the movie apart from its Hollywood sister "I Want to Live"from a couple of years later is that unlike Susan Hayward in that movie Mary Hutton is quite obviously guilty -her case is not a miscarriage of justice and there is no special pleading in the way the movie sets out to make its anti-capital punishment case .For make no bones about it, this is an abolitionist propaganda piece .Despite her clear and palpable guilt the movie insists that hanging is just plain wrong . J lee Thompson shows an absurdity to things as the wardens set about trying to keep her occupied -they teach her chess ,pass the time in meaningless chit chat and ensure she is healthy enough to be hung in a week or so .The style is not ,as you might expect ,documentary but shows the influence of German Expressionism in its use of extreme close-ups,and oblique camera angles .It deftly suggests the disorientation of someone who may be about to die by order of the state in a premeditated and planned manner Much was made at the time of its similarity to an actual murder case -that of Ruth Ellis,the last woman to be hung in Britain .Both Ellis and Mary in the movie were blondes ,both shot men who had done them wrong .This is coincidence nothing more as the script was written two years prior to the Ellis case and the release of the movie at the time the Ellis case was generating publicity was an accident .Dors is sensational in the role .A flamboyant publicity conscious starlet she declared herself with this movie to be powerhouse actress unafraid to present an appearance devoid of her usual glamour ,letting her dyed hair grow out to show dark at the roots and discarding the revealing gowns of the publicity machine for unflattering prison wear .Its a powerful piece of work and all involved in its making did good work .I am still a pro-hanger but I do admire the honesty and integrity of this movie .its not enjoyable but it is potent