Dr. Crippen
       
Director: Robert Lynn
Year: 1963
Rating: 6.0
The Dr. Crippen murder case was one of the most scandalous of its time and has produced books, research, films, TV and a wax statue in Madame Tussaud's in London. It seems a lot of attention for this murderer. A piker in comparison to other killers before and after. One murder. That's it. Perhaps it was the dismemberment of his wife and the removal of her organs that created the hubbub. But from personal experience, it is hard getting rid of a body in your home. Burn it if you have the means, acid if you have a tank, burying it in the cellar or backyard is a tried and true method, but all are open to failure if the police suspect something. All they found of Crippen's wife is her torso with no organs. The rest is still patiently waiting to be discovered over a hundred years later.

 

Crippen was an American who had moved to London for work and married Belle Elmore (Coral Browne) - her stage name as a music hall singer. She had affairs, he had one with his secretary Ethel Le Neve. The wife went missing, Crippen changed his story from she moved to America, ran away with a man, died in America - and the police were about ready to accept that until he panicked and ran away with Ethel and disguised her as his son on a ship to Canada. The police then searched his home more carefully and found her torso buried in the basement. His picture was sent out over the world. The captain recognized them and had them arrested on reaching land by using the new invention of the Transatlantic telegraph. He was brought back and charged and hung in 1910. She was found to be not guilty. His claim of innocence was that the body was not his wife's. Jump forward a hundred years and there has been DNA evidence that the body was in fact not his wife's. Too late for Crippen. Ethel moved to America for a few years, returned under a different name, married and had a few children. She lived till 1967.

 

The film follows the recognized story to a T. Crippen played by Donald Pleasence is a milquetoast of a man, henpecked continuously by his wife, his manhood laughed at. So much so, that as a viewer   one might cheer that she got it. Ethel as played by Samantha Eggar is a total sweetie in her debut and one can understand his motives. The murder is never shown. Leaving open the possibility that he was telling the truth. The film switches back and forth between the trial and the story. As far as I could tell, it takes few liberties with the case. Pictures of the mousy Crippen and Ethel have Pleasance looking like him and Ethel was quite attractive. A little dull in the telling but one of the more famous murders when murder was still a quaint exercise. And Pleasance gives a wonderfully understated performance.