WANTED FOR MURDER
UK, 1946, 103 minutes, Black and white.
Eric Portman, Dulcie Gray, Derek Farr, Roland Culver, Stanley Holloway, Barbara Everest, Bonar Colleano, Kathleen Harrison, Bill Shine, Wilfrid Hyde White, Moira Lister.
Directed by Laurence Huntingdon.
Wanted for Murder is based on a stage play. There are many dialogue sequences but the play is well opened out, to Hampstead Heath, Regents Park, Hyde Park, especially for the settings for the murders.
This is a 1940s interpretation of a serial killer. Eric Portman portrays him, well educated and well dressed businessman, his concern about his father and his death, that his mother thinks he is mad, his compulsions, meeting with women, the attraction, strangling them, the entries in his diary. He also likes to taunt the police – Scotland Yard inspector played by Roland Culver, with Stanley Holloway as his assistant.
There is also a focus on a young woman who works at a record store and her meeting with a bus conductor and falling in love, Dulcie Gray and Derek Farr.
The screenplay interweaves the behaviour of the killer with the Scotland Yard investigations. The film is of its time but is interesting in the further developments of the investigation of serial killers.
(With Stanley Holloway as the assistant to the inspector and Wilfrid Hyde White as the tour guide at Madame Tussauds, we are reminded that in 18 years’ time, one would be Alfred Dolittle and the other Col Pickering in My Fair Lady.)
1. A 1940s version of a serial killer? The impact then? Later developments of scenarios of serial killers?
2. The London setting, homes, the streets, Hampstead Heath, Regents Park, Hyde Park, Scotland Yard, shops, restaurants? The musical score?
3. The situation, the murders, young women strangled, no leads? The postcards to Scotland Yard, threats?
4. The introduction to Anne and Jack, on the Underground, crowded, talking, the hold-up, Jack accompanying Anne to the fair, the merry-go-round, her disappearance?
5. Anne, work in the record shop, the critical supervisor, Victor and his visiting, playing the record? Her meeting with him at the fair, his anger? Next day apology?
6. Victor at home, his mother and her concern, her aristocratic sister and the cigarettes, Florrie and her concern, Victor continually going out, walking, dapper, hat and cane, his concern about his father, his mother’s reticence?
7. The diary entry, the girl at Regents Park, the talking, his killing her, bending over, the American and his girl, lighting the cigarette? Their going to the police, the certainty about the identification, Victor present, Conway getting him to put on the hat and coat, the correct build, but the wrong man?
8. Victor, at work, his secretary, seemingly normal? The walking, Hampstead Heath, Scotland Yard interest, calling him in, getting to look at the photos, his identification of the man? The return to Scotland Yard? Politeness? Yet the irony of his comments on Conway?
9. Conway, Scotland Yard, methods? Interrogations? Sullivan, his assistant, his wife’s comments? Ellis, the drooping moustache, his following Victor? Losing him at Hyde Park?
10. Jack, bus driver, attraction to Anne, losing her, Scotland Yard and the identification, the going out together, falling in love? Victor and his intervention, and wanting to break off, the promise of the rendezvous?
11. The incident and Madame Tussauds, the guide, Colebrook the strangler, Victor destroying the statue?
12. Victor’s mother, her concern, his anger with her, the diary, seeing the entry, trying to burn it? Her collapse? Going to Scotland Yard, to Hyde Park?
13. Conway and Sullivan, going to the house, the evidence of the postcards, the diary entry, the torn stamp? Hurrying to Hyde Park?
14. The action at Hyde Park, Victor meeting Anne, the boat, the island, the threats? Jack and his arrival, his information about the statue, the boat, the confrontation? The police watching? And the obstinate official who would not clear the park without documents? The crowds and their being herded, breaking through the barriers?
15. Victor, in the water, holding up his hands, drowning? The 1940s interpretation of his psychology, split personality, sexuality, inheriting the genes from his father?