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The Limping Man
The Limping Man
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Cy Endfield
Written by	Ian Stuart Black; Reginald Long
Based on	Death on the Tideway by Anthony Verney
Produced by	Donald Ginsberg
Starring	Lloyd Bridges; Moira Lister; Leslie Phillips; Alan Wheatley
Cinematography	Jonah Jones
Edited by	Stanley Willis
Music by	Arthur Wilkinson
Production; company	Banner Films
Distributed by	Eros Films
Release date	30 November 1953;
Running time	76 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Limping Man is a 1953 British second feature ('B')^[1] film noir directed by Cy Endfield and starring Lloyd Bridges, Moira Lister and Leslie Phillips.^[2]^[3] The film was made at Merton Park Studios and was written by Ian Stuart Black and Reginald Long based on Anthony Verney's novel Death on the Tideway. Endfield directed it under the pseudonym Charles de Lautour due to his blacklisting in Hollywood. Location shooting took place around London including The Mayflower pub in Rotherhithe.

Plot

American former soldier Frank Prior arrives in London to visit a wartime girlfriend, whom he has not seen in six years. His plane landing at the airport coincides with a fellow passenger being killed by a sniper.

Scotland Yard inspector Braddock and detective Cameron are assigned to investigate. The dead man is carrying forged documents addressed to Kendall Brown (whom he is thus identified as), and a photograph that leads them to Pauline French, an actress.

Pauline is the woman Frank has come to see. She also happens to be an expert marksman with a rifle. After they kiss, Pauline tells Frank that she had tried unsuccessfully to notify him to delay his visit.

An autographed picture of another actress, Helene Castle, is found in Kendall Brown's flat. The detectives learn that Helene is the victim's ex-wife. In the meantime, Frank spends a few hours with Pauline on her boat. When they later go to a pub, a limping man seems to menace and unnerve Pauline, who runs away.

Pauline confesses to Frank that she once let Kendall Brown use her boat for a smuggling operation. He began blackmailing her with letters she wrote, which Helene now possesses. At the theatre, the limping man turns out to be George, the stage manager. But to everyone's shock, the late Kendall Brown turns up very much alive. The victim on the plane was a man bringing documents to Brown who saw his own apparent death as convenient.

After knocking the limping man unconscious, Kendall Brown ends up in a fistfight with Frank in the theatre's balcony. Brown and Frank fall over the railing, but as he falls, Frank jars awake and finds himself back on the plane, having dreamed the entire adventure. Brown is revealed to be one of Frank's fellow passengers, Castle the flight attendant, and Braddock and Cameron the pilots. Confused but relieved, Frank exits the plane and meets his girlfriend, Pauline French.

Cast

Lloyd Bridges as Frank Prior
Moira Lister as Pauline French
Alan Wheatley as Inspector Braddock
Leslie Phillips as Detective Cameron
Hélène Cordet as Helene Castle, magician's assistant
Bruce Beeby as Kendall Brown
André van Gyseghem as George, stage doorman
Tom Gill as George the Stage Manager
Lionel Blair as Tommy the Dancer
Robert Harbin as Harper LeStrade, magician
Charles Bottrill as Xylophonist
Rachel Roberts as the Barmaid
Verne Morgan as Stone
Raymond Rollett as Jonas
Irissa Cooper as Maid
Maxwell Gardner as Airport Official
Olive Lucius as T. V. Hostess
Stephen Boyd as Airport Traveller
Marjorie Hume as Landlady
Jean Marsh as the Landlady's daughter
Max and Louise Boisot as The Children

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Apart from the improbabilities – accounted for by the fact that the film is a dream – this thriller is sufficiently full of mystery to hold the attention for most of its length. Containing the usual mixture of comedy, romance, songs and excitement, it is greatly strengthened by the performances of Alan Wheatley and Leslie Phillips as the detectives. Lloyd Bridges tends to under-play the legendary toughness of Americans in such circumstances."^[4]

Kine Weekly wrote: "Romantic crime melodrama unfolded against a bizarre London kaleidoscope. Its story, which is about a young American who gets involved in blackmail and murder while visiting an old flame in England, ends in a dream, but the device disarms at the cost of conviction and realism. Its extravagant surface action can, however, be depended upon to intrigue, if not thrill, the nine-pennies, until hoax explodes."^[5]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Competent thriller spoiled by terrible ending."^[6]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Initially intriguing thriller which gives up the ghost and tacks on a dream ending."^[7]

References

^ Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-8445-7319-6.
^ "The Limping Man". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 3 October 2024.
^ BFI
^ "The Limping Man". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 21 (240): 10. 1 January 1954 – via ProQuest.
^ "The Limping Man". Kine Weekly. 440 (2420): 6. 12 November 1953 – via ProQuest.
^ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 338. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.
^ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 600. ISBN 0586088946.