The Long Dark Hall (1951) User Reviews

Adequate

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 6 March 2008]

Wow--talk about divergent reviews. Two apparently hated the film (giving it a score of 2) and two liked it very much (giving it a score of 7). I think my opinion is somewhat in the middle--though I think giving the film a 2 is awfully silly. It's NOT a bad film, though I would agree with goldbug-2 that the forensic work done by the police seems sloppy. In fact, up until late in the film, I could look past the problems with the knife and other evidence. However, the completely unbelievable ending and the major mistake in the film concerning the witness they could not locate made me mad--as it just looked sloppy and the film seemed to be wrapped up too quickly. Let me explain the problem with both. Rex Harrison's character insisted there was a witness that could place him at the restaurant and later you see this witness come to court but then walk away without giving evidence. How could this be? The film was told to an author by a newspaper man but how could the newspaper man tell that the witness DID come to court but then ran away without telling anyone--how could he have known this?! As for the ending, the film maintained a rather steady pace throughout but at the end, everything was basically described to the audience--neatly wrapping everything up but not even showing what they were describing! It was like they decided not to film the last 20 minutes of the movie and just sum it up in 5!! Sloppy indeed.

It's all rather sad, as up until then, the film was well written, acted and kept my attention. Sadly, I was anticipating giving the film a 7--but the sloppy ending really brought the film down to the level of mediocrity. Too bad.

By the way, I rarely directly complain about an other review, but the one reviewer that complained ad nauseum about the 1950s really needs to stick to the film itself and not give us a diatribe about sexism and repression. You can't so strongly attack one film because you have such strong contempt for the 1950s! Who cares what you think about the 1950s? While I do agree that Lilli Palmer played a woman with very low self-esteem (considering how much she excused her womanizing husband), such vehemence about the film is just bizarre. Her character might have justified giving the film a somewhat lower score, but not this low.

Somewhat bizarre for a couple of reasons

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 3 September 2013]

Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer star in the British "The Long Dark Hall," from 1951.

Harrison plays Arthur Groome, who stands trial for the murder of a showgirl, played by Patricia Wayne. Actually, the person who did it is a man who has killed before (Anthony Dawson), which we see in the beginning. However, thanks to some circumstantial evidence, Groome, who was involved with Rose, stands accused.

His wife Mary (Palmer) knows he couldn't have killed the woman, no matter what, and stands by him.

This evidently was an attempt to cash in on the suicide of Carole Landis in 1948. As the story goes, Harrison, who was married to Palmer at the time, refused to divorce her and marry Landis, which is said to have driven Landis to suicide. She left two suicide notes, one of which was for Harrison, and Harrison destroyed it and claimed he knew no reason for her suicide. This was long ago, and I imagine many stories have sprung up and been embellished, so it's hard to know what happened. It is known that Landis knew by 1948 that she wasn't going to have the career she wanted; she was 29, and by the time you were a female aged 30 in Hollywood, you were done playing the kind of role she did. Palmer stood by Harrison during the scandal and attended Landis' funeral with him.

Now, why these two would have agreed to do this film is beyond even my wild imagination, except both of them might have been trying to prove something.

It's an okay movie with one problem. We are taken through the criminal's first murder and his murder of Rose; the arrest of Arthur; the trial; the testimony; his alibi witness guilty for not coming forward; the verdict. And then, one minute before the film ends, we are told the whole rest of the story. It seemed a little abrupt to me, as if the money ran out or something.

The acting is very good, Harrison a great pro and Palmer, lovely and elegant. Though she and Harrison did not divorce until 1956, she left him in 1954 and made films in her native Germany, though she continued to make American films.

A mixture of very good and very bad! See it anyway!

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 15 September 2017]

Producer and co-director with Reginald Beck: Anthony Bushell. A Huntington Hartford production. A Cusick International presentation. A Five Oceans production, released by British Lion in the U.K., filmed at Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames.

Not copyrighted in the U.S.A. U.S. release through Eagle Lion/United Artists: 10 April 1951. New York opening at the Rivoli: 9 May 1951. London opening at the Leicester Square: 9 February 1951. U.K. release through British Lion: 19 March 1951. Australian release through London Films/Universal: 7 February 1952. 7,881 feet. 88 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Arthur Groome, a married man with two children, is involved in an affair with a chorus girl, Rose Mallory. One evening when she fails to meet him as arranged, he goes to her lodgings, only to discover her dead body.

NOTES: Nunnally Johnson wrote this screenplay during his sojourn at Universal in 1946-48. Universal sold the script to Huntington Hartford.

COMMENT: Unfortunately, Rex is right. He is miscast. The role was evidently designed with Edward G. Robinson in mind. Rex's Arthur Groome is neither a very believable figure nor one that fully engages audience sympathy. A pity, because the rest of the players are fine — with the one exception of the guy who badly interprets an American writer in the clumsily-written framing story with Michael Medwin. Particularly impressive are Brenda de Banzie, Patricia Wayne and Meriel Forbes.

The tandem direction is surprisingly able and occasionally inventive. Moody photography and realistic sets are further plus factors. The court-room scenes come across most effectively.

OTHER VIEWS: My worst picture? "The Long Dark Hall" would have to be near the top of the list. — Rex Harrison.

Harrison elevates The Film From Average To Enjoyable.

[peacham · 7/10 · 6 April 2003]

The plot is not original...Mistress is Murdered,Married Man accussed...Wife stands by him. But Sir Rex Harrison makes you believe in the story. Harrison gives an extremely fine and brilliant performance which raises the film from a typical pot boiler into the story of a regretful innocent man. Lily Palmer (at the time..Mrs. Harrison) is also in fine form as his on screen wife.

Atmospheric and Downbeat

[LeonLouisRicci · 7/10 · 3 September 2013]

A Broody, Moody Movie that is a slightly better than Average British Thriller that makes up for its slim Story and vapid Ending with Atmospheric touches and strong Characters. It has a striking Noirish beginning with very dark streets inhabited by a Serial Killer that resembles a sewer rat.

One of the Victims has a cheating Husband as a Lover and He is falsely accused of Her Murder. The middle becomes a Courtroom Melodrama with cross examinations and suspect Witnesses. This all leads to a confrontation between the real Killer and the Accused Man's Wife that is edge of your seat Suspenseful.

This Movie has a Sleazy Look and a Downbeat Tone that aside from the aforementioned Wrap Up, places it in the Realm of Foreign Film-Noir and has a Creep Factor that is exploited by the truly unsettling Murderer and dingy surroundings. Slightly underrated.

Groomed for Murder

[BaronBl00d · 6/10 · 1 June 2008]

Solid if not impressive light thriller about a man infatuated with a young actress whilst still married soon to be entombed in a vault of lies when the young girl turns up dead and murdered - not by his hand or so he says? Rex Harrison gives a subtly good performance as Arthur Groome - the man who loves his wife and children yet also "loves" the young murdered actress. The film chronicles how the pieces of that puzzle unravel and whether or not Groome or someone else is the actual murderer. As a mystery film The Long Dark Hall is effective and entertaining for the most part. Harrison is as ever affable and Lili Palmer, his real-life wife, plays his wife here. All of the British cast do workmanlike jobs with Anthony Dawson particularly being effective. Patricia Cutts plays a very lovely girl in her turn as the victim. I would agree that the ending is somewhat unsatisfying and predictable but not wholly bleak. Directors Anthony Bushell and editor Reginald Beck(also getting his one time directorial credit for this film)create some very nice work - particularly those shots of the long, dark hall. This film is not a big budget affair in any way but still makes for a relaxing, enjoyable time.

The Long Dark Snore

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 7 May 2012]

This film was written by Edgar Lustgarten who is best known for his appearance as narrator of the "Scales Of Justice" and "Scotland Yard" series of short 30 minute films shown at the ABC cinemas in the 50s and 60s.Whilst the use of the device of a narrator works for these short films it most certainly does not in this instance.To have the film narrated by Michael Medwin is an irritating device which papers over the cracks.However it commits the worst crime that can be committed in this genre.It describes the denouement.There is a complete sense of anticlimax as a result.Other reviewers have also pointed out the major flaws in the screenplay such as the fact that the presence of Eric Pohlman in court could not have been known by Medwin as Pohlman never came forward.It is clear that the stars swallowed their pride and decided to trade on Harrisons new found notoriety as an adulterer and the sad case of Carol Landis's suicide.Palmer did stand by her husband till he met and married Kay Kendall.A case in any event of art imitating life.

Nice, atmospheric and well-made

[guenzeld · 9/10 · 20 November 2008]

A very fine actress was Lilli Palmer - sensitive, thoughtful, moving - and this picture gives us another reason to admire her skill. And anyone wishing to learn how to create a believable performance would do well to study her work and profit by bit. In THE LONG DARK HALL she brings great strength to her role as a wife who wants to believe in her husband, come what may.

THE LONG DARK HALL was produced by Rex Harrison himself. For the film he brought together a fine group of artists to help him make it, among them screenwriter Nunnally Johnson, whose long and distinguished record in the film world needs no introduction. He chose a top British cinematographer, Wilkie Cooper, to bring the proper film noir look and mood to the film and commissioned Benjamin Frankel to compose another of his fine scores. The cast is extremely good. One always marvels at the effortless perfection of the likes of Denis O'Dea, Brenda de Banzie and Raymond Huntley who have never, to my knowledge, ever given a bad performance. The villainy in the film was in the very capable hands of Anthony Dawson, whom many will remember as the paid murderer in Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER.

While the ending is cobbled together a shade too quickly the great fun I had watching this drama made up for any disappointment. After all, the ending was a logical one, even if it could have been handled with a bit more cinematic flair. All in all, a nice, atmospheric, well-made thriller.

An innocent man

[jotix100 · 6/10 · 14 July 2011]

Can circumstantial evidence be enough to condemn an innocent man to die? The answer, according to this seldom seen 1951 British film, seems to be, yes, indeed!

A criminal has been stalking women at night around the West End in London. We watch as one young woman is stabbed to death by a dark stranger that was following her. Shortly after, we see two women emerge from a stage door after a performance. They agree to go for a drink, but Rose Mallory, the beautiful young woman that was supposed to have met the man she has been dating, decides to go to her bedsit in Earls Court. The same killer has decided to pay her a visit, this time in her own home whose door he finds open.

Arthur Groome, a married man, makes the mistake of going after his lover. Unknown to him, he uses a key, given to him by Rose, to enter the house, only to be scolded by Mrs. Rogers, the landlady for coming in after hours. What he finds, horrifies him, for Rose has been stabbed to death. Arthur, consumed by what he felt about the dead woman makes the mistake of holding her, thus getting incriminating evidence on his own clothes.

What follows is the conviction and trial of Arthur because everything conspires against him. His wife, Mary, is the only one that believes he is innocent. Mary, in spite of facing Arthur's betrayal, will stay by him and do everything in her power to save him from a clear death sentence.

The direction of "The Long Dark Hall" was shared by Reginald Beck and Anthony Bushell, who also appears as Arthur Gromme's defense attorney. This is an adaptation of a novel by Edgar Lustgarten, which might be the device used by the two writers that appear at the beginning and at the end of the film trying to dissect the case for the viewer. Two men are given credit for the screenplay, W.E. Fairchild and the great Nunnally Johnson. The film goes for the dramatics more than for an actual murder case because there are things that plainly do not make much sense, but one goes along with it.

Rex Harrison, an actor that had been at the center of a scandal in Hollywood some time before, seems to have taken the role of Arthur Groom to prove himself since he was not getting much work in America. His then wife, Lilli Palmer plays the deceived wife, Mary. In real life, Mr. Harrison had refused to divorce her in favor of Carole Landis, who ended up committing divorce. The film was a vehicle for the couple.

In supporting roles we see some excellent English actors doing a fine job. The creepy looking Anthony Dawson has a good time with his role. Brenda De Banzie showed up as Mrs. Rogers. Also Raymond Huntley, a veteran of the British cinema was on hand as the inspector Sullivan. In a cameo role we saw Jill Bennett get killed as the first murder victim.

"6-4 against."

[brogmiller · 3/10 · 8 February 2021]

Rex Harrison was primarily a stage actor and indeed a very fine one. He returned to the theatre following the well-documented suicide of Carole Landis which effectively scuppered his Hollywood career until being welcomed back into the fold some fifteen years later.

The plot of this has eerie echoes of the scandal and the similarities are surely too marked to be coincidental. Should this be an attempt to capitalise commercially on that unfortunate episode it is one that is both shoddy and misjudged.

It is co-directed by Anthony Bushell who also plays the defence counsel and Reginald Beck. Mr. Bushell although a fair enough actor, cannot direct traffic. Mr. Beck is one of our best editors but happily this is his only directorial assignment.

Oodles of moody, noirish cinematography here courtesy of Wilkie Cooper and an atmospheric score by Benjamin Frankel. Unfortunately the entire cast sinks beneath the weight of the leaden direction and a truly atrocious script. As the wrongfully accused husband this has to be the nadir of Mr. Harrison's film career whilst the wondrous Lili Palmer as the faithful wife somehow manages to rise above the dismal material. One's admiration for Miss Palmer's abilities knows no bounds. Her best scenes by far are those with Anthony Dawson as the self-styled 'instrument of justice'. Mr. Dawson is wonderfully creepy and is basically warming up for his performance in 'Dial M for Murder.'. Brenda de Banzie makes her film debut as a 'respectable' landlady. This marvellous actress would have made more films than she did but by all accounts directors found her notoriously difficult.

One would like to accept the weaknesses of this film in exchange for its strengths but the former outnumber the latter to such an extent that one is fighting a losing battle.

Best to leave the final words to Rex Harrison himself. "My worst film? 'The Long Dark Hall' must be near the top of the list".

A Long Dark Ordeal for Rex Harrison

[robert-temple-1 · 8/10 · 30 March 2009]

This film starts by announcing that it is a Huntington Hartford Production, and Hartford was clearly the Executive Producer. However, this does not appear in the IMDb credits, and my attempt to add the information to the database proved unsuccessful for some reason. I therefore take this opportunity to correct the omission from my close friend Huntington Hartford's list of production credits. (I must admit, he never told me he had anything to do with this film, but then, he did so many things, you could never keep count of them all.) This film features magnificent performances by both Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer. She is at her noblest, and he is at his least mannered. Harrison became extremely irritating as an actor later on, when he became a caricature of himself. But at this stage of his career, when still fresh, he was superb. People today might find Lilli Palmer's character as the dedicated and self-effacing wife offensive, but that was how things were in the 1950s. Also, she was 'standing by her man' before Tammy Wynette was ever heard of and even longer before Hillary Clinton ridiculed her. Loyalty is one of those virtues which seems rather forgotten today, but Lilli Palmer's stalwart character is a lesson in it. When her husband is wrongly accused of murdering a showgirl, she sticks by him firmly even when she realizes he was obsessed with the girl and had been having an affair for some time. The real murderer is superbly played by an extremely creepy Anthony Dawson. This film features the first appearance on screen of Jill Bennett, but she is murdered almost immediately, so you have to be quick or you miss her. The film is very good indeed, and those who hate it are reacting I suspect not against the film but against the period which it expresses.

Circumstantial evidence can convict

[jcholguin · 7/10 · 3 August 2001]

Rex Harrison stars as Arthur Groom, a man on trial for murdering a stage girl. This girl was young and became an obsession of Groom. The timeline becomes very critical as Groom claims that he spoke to a "large Italian man" at 10:00pm, the very time when the girl was murdered. All the circumstantial evidence such as the knife, seen there, lied about being in neighborhood and knowing the girl. No one can find his alibi. Trouble is as Groom tells everyone on the witness stand "I'm telling the truth but no one believes me, trouble is that it doesn't sound true, what good is the truth when it doesn't sound true." Lilli Palmer is Mary Groome, his faithful wife that stands with Arthur but will her marriage vow of "until death" be tested.

Not a bad movie but I wonder about the stars' motivations

[Handlinghandel · 5/10 · 8 April 2008]

This is a pretty interesting mystery. It's not really suspenseful but it's done with style.

However, I wonder what purpose it was meant to serve for the public relations of its star Rex Harrison. His friend Carole Landis, a charming star of generally minor films, had killed herself a few years before this came out. As a result, his therefore rising box office appeal had plummeted. Indeed, the brilliant "Unfaithfully Yours" had the bad fortune to come out right after Ms. Landis had died. No one wanted to see Rex Harrison killing a woman over and over -- even if it was in his imagination. "Unfaithfully Yours" was not a success, despite director Preston Sturges's career as Hollywood (apparent) golden boy. Sturges really did not survive this failure commercially.

So, here we have a decent man accused of murdering a pretty young woman. Like the star himself, the character is married to (the very appealing) Lilli Palmer. I don't want to give away the plot. Let's just say that this is a movie that comes out against quick decisions in tabloid cases.

Can this have been a coincidence? Maybe it was. I don't know anything about its history. However, I sincerely doubt that it was.

Circumstantial evidence old boy. Juries won't have it. They don't like it and they don't trust it.

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 26 January 2020]

When Arthur Groome (Rex Harrison) finds his girlfriend murdered at her Earls Court flat and becomes stricken with grief and fear, he promptly runs from the scene of the crime. Questioned by the police about the crime, Arthur, a married man, in panic denies all knowledge of the girl. Soon, however, he finds himself charged with murder and inexorably drawn towards the gallows...

Directed by Anthony Bushell and Reginald Beck, it is adapted to screenplay by Nunnally Johnson and William Fairchild from Edgar Lustgarten's novel. Harrison's real life wife at the time, Lilli Palmer, plays his loyal spouse here, while Benjamin Frankel scores the music and Wilkie Cooper is the cinematographer.

Largely ignored and underseen these days, due in the main that some critics of the time noted it has uncomfortable parallels to the real life Harrison and Carole Landis suicide affair - plus Harrison himself quickly denounced the film as dreadful - it's actually a decent wrong man court case picture often filmed in gorgeous film noir styles.

There is no mystery element here, for we know Arthur is innocent, and in fact we know who the killer is. We are given two murders in the first twenty minutes, each a year apart, the first is photographed on the outside in shadows, gaslights and upon a moist cobbled alleyway. The second, where the object of Arthur's lovelorn attention (Patricia Cutts) resides, is stifling in its cruel intensity.

It's a sly story of obsession, circumstantial devilments, manipulation and somewhat oddly, loyalty. The suspense is ramped up as Arthur gets ever deeper in the mire during the court case (look how Cooper photographs the critical sequences in court), while his loving wife is being befriended by the real murderer (a wonderfully rat faced Anthony Dawson) who has his own distorted motives that he wants to bare out.

Viewing it now the police work due to the writing comes off as being very shoddy, and the finale is just a bit too much leftfield to wholly satisfy. Yet this is a very tidy Brit-Noir styled suspenser that comes recommended to fans of leading man and noirish visuals. 7/10

Story within a story crime drama

[kijii · 6/10 · 4 November 2016]

The Long Dark Hall is a crime drama starring Rex Harrison and his real- life wife (at the time), Lilli Palmer, who in the film, play husband and wife, Arthur and Mary Groome.

This seems to be a story within a story as told by a newspaper reporter to a crime novelist. But, the internal story is the one that I focused on throughout the movie.

In this story, Arthur and Mary Groome appear to be a happily married couple who live in Richmond with two young daughters. However, when a London showgirl is found dead on a night that Arthur visited her—which he admitted to everyone that he often did--he is accused of her murder. Yet, he claimed he did not kill her, and his wife, Mary, totally believes him.

His accusation and trial for her murder is based on a ton of circumstantial evidence, including his knife at the scene, witnesses, and her blood on his suit (which he admits, he in the trial, that he burned because it couldn't be dry cleaned)....

Exploiting A Scandal

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 1 November 2011]

The Long Dark Hall is proof positive that our friends across the pond in the United Kingdom can be just as crassly exploitive as American film makers can be. I'm sure the casting of Mr.&Mrs. Rex Harrison in a film about the death of a woman that Rex was involved with and the fact that Lilli Palmer played his dutiful and loyal wife in this same film was no coincidence. The scandal about the death of Carole Landis was still fresh in people's minds on both sides of the Atlantic.

Harrison plays a mild mannered husband and father who has gotten himself involved with a beautiful showgirl played by Patricia Cutts a woman of dissolute morals and habits. When she later is murdered, some stupidity on Harrison's part and some sloppy investigation on the part of Scotland Yard gets Harrison arrested.

The case is all circumstantial but a bad performance by Harrison on the witness stand seals his fate.

The Long Dark Hall pulled itself up a couple of notches in the ratings department from me with an ending that literally was out of left field. I have to say I didn't see that coming. The film also plays better on this side of the pond than others because a good knowledge of British history of the period would help you see what was coming. My knowledge is good, but not that good.

Nevertheless the film was clearly made to take advantage of the notoriety that Harrison got with the Landis death even though that one was a suicide.

Spoilers

[goldbug-2 · 2/10 · 12 May 2007]

THIS COMMENT CONTAINS SPOILERS. This is a much worse movie than at first appears. Neither the trial nor the original investigation which consists of nothing more than arresting Arthur Groome who had obligingly left his name with the victim's landlady makes any sense. Groome has an iron-clad alibi for the time of the murder. He was eating in a restaurant where he is a regular who has been meeting Mary and perhaps other showgirls and must be known. While he is eating, another guest whom Groome later remembers, but cannot place, addresses him by name. This alibi witness never comes forward for reasons of his own (that his utterly unrelated and minor misconduct might be exposed), but he does a will-he-or-won't-he dance for a while. Meanwhile Groome has a second alibi witness of which the prosecution is obviously aware, the bartender at Joe's Place, the restaurant. Groome argues with that bartender at 10:20 PM on the clock -- the murder is set at 10:00 PM -- before he leaves after eating about whether the clock is 10 minutes or 20 minutes fast. This argument at 10:00 or 10:10 PM puts him there at the time of the murder and settles the question of his innocence. The prosecutor suggests that the reason Groome asks about the clock is to establish an alibi, but his reason makes no difference since he was obviously there (Groome explains that his concern was how late for their date Mary, who is dead, was). Thus the prosecutor does not dispute the alibi, but suggests that his having an alibi proves his guilt.

The serial killer who has dispatched poor Mary at 10:00 PM is played by Arthur Dawson who will later die as would-be-murderer Swann at the hands of Grace Kelly in the masterpiece Dial M for Murder. He eventually provides a happy ending by confessing in a letter to the police using language he has used in front of the police in his faithful visits to the courtroom. He also visits poor Mrs Groome at home where he harasses her, but does not raise her suspicions.

The police are unable to tell that the knife Groome lent to Mary that is found at the scene is not the murder weapon. Even in 1948 whether a knife had been handled or bloodied could be determined. Here there is nothing more than Groome's arrival after the murder to try to find out why Mary did not arrive at Joe's Place as planned to associate him with the murder. Since Groome runs away from the scene to avoid having his wife discover his dalliance, reporting the murder is left to someone else who is never identified.

The trial appears to go from the testimony of the landlady (who also could have been an alibi witness for Groome since she knew what time he arrived), the prosecution's star witness, directly to Groome, the defendant. How the prosecution knows about the discussion of the time at Joe's Place while the murder was being committed is not revealed, but the sequence of witnesses implies that the alibi witness bartender was not called at all. Of course this is absurd.

There is something remarkable about Harrison and Palmer making a movie about his infidelity not very long after his infamous infidelity with another actress had been revealed. I suppose the producers believed that curiosity about how Palmer would play the forgiving wife allowed a certain carelessness with the movie itself.

Long dark way.

[ulicknormanowen · 8/10 · 13 September 2023]

This excellent thriller, which preceded Hitchcock's "the wrong man" it recalls sometimes , shares with it the prayer to God as a deus ex machina ,although "long dark hall" turns it into a clever plea against death penalty - it was not abolished yet -and the final trick of the clock (9:10 PM)and the newspaper works as a suspenseful idea as well as a manifesto .

Superb performances by the principals, Rex Harrison injecting ambiguity in his portrayal,thus making us believe he's perhaps somewhat guilty ,though it is a whodunit in reverse ,for we know the face of the killer from the start .Matching him all the way is Lilli Palmer's faithful wife ,who puts her trust in him,even when she learns the most sordid details , and,in spite of her family's disapproval,stands by him all along his trials.

Rex acts!

[HotToastyRag · 7/10 · 4 February 2023]

Everyone knows Rex Harrison plays Henry Higgins in every role, but there are two exceptions: Staircase and The Long Dark Hall. The latter is actually a decent drama for the most part. Yes, it does feel a bit dated and British, but if you're super excited to see Rex Harrison cry, you probably won't mind.

The movie starts off with a murder. A showgirl is killed by an unknown assailant, and her boyfriend Rex (who has been waiting to meet up with her) discovers her dead on the floor. In shock, he embraces her and gets blood on his suit. He flees the scene and returns home to his wife and tries to pretend nothing's wrong. When the police come sniffing around, he lies. Blood on his clothes, witnesses to his location, lies on his sworn statement, and secret love letters the victim was supposed to have burned all pin Rex solidly into the murder corner...

If you're not a Rex fan, you probably won't like this one. It's a different performance from him, but the rest of the movie isn't so fantastic and mysterious that it'll keep you on the edge of your seat. It's predictable, but then again, lots of courtroom dramas are. One bonus will be seeing real-life husband and wife Rex and Lilli Palmer acting together.

Take it or leave it

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 17 November 2018]

THE LONG DARK HALL is a rather average murder mystery from 1951 that needed a director of the status of a Hitchcock in order to give it some "boom". The story sees a showgirl murdered in an early sequence by the ever-sinister Anthony Dawson; subsequently, the mysterious Rex Harrison finds himself accused of the crime and struggling to prove his innocence. The fact that we see the murder carried out early on robs the story of suspense, and the decision to play things out in flashback as a kind of courtroom drama doesn't help much either. Harrison was never one of the most sympathetic actors out there, so in the end this is a rather "take it or leave it" kind of movie.

Brilliantly unpleasant thriller of sustained suspense

[clanciai · 9/10 · 3 March 2023]

We know the murderer from the beginning and are as fully aware of Rex Harrison's innocence as himself, but what does it help? As he states himself, "I know it's the truth but that it doesn't sound true." All the circumstantial evidence is against him, and the one witness that could set him free dares not stand up because of his dinosaur of a wife who makes him think too much of the consequences, as he also has been playing around. It's a perfect script, and it is cleverly presented, as Anthony Bushell himself appears in the role of the lawyer, giving occasional glimpses and hints of the developing very critical case. The film could be seen as a major argument against the death penalty, which was abolished five years later. Rex Harrison shows a uniquely soft portrait of the happy family man with two daughters and the best of wives, Lilli Palmer, who never doubts him no matter how he has been playing around. She was always one of my favourite actresses, she was never disappointing or taking part in any bad film, and you will remember her better than Rex after this film. On top of all this is the outstanding music and a very interesting cinematography. The one unpleasant ingredient is the murderer, whom you, like Lilli Palmer, get to know too closely.

Good Wrong Man Drama - The Long Dark Hall

[arthur_tafero · 7/10 · 17 November 2021]

I cannot believe the first line description of this film by IMDB. They are almost 100% accurate with all of their descriptions once you click through the movie link to the description. A dedicated family man? I think not. He wanted to help the actress with her career as the primary motivation? Again, I think not. Obviously, as he states in his own words, he was obsessed with the woman romantically (as in his letters as well). IMDB needs to change this description asap. On to the review. The film, starring Rex Harrison and Lili Palmer is much better than your average court drama. Both players do a superb job in the leads. The ending is a bit convenient, but other than that, the film is engaging. Well worth your time.

The Law Is A Ass!

[rmax304823 · 5/10 · 1 September 2013]

The movie has all the right elements -- a good cast, serial murderer, innocent man on trial, circumstantial evidence, some fine noirish photography, courtroom drama full of ritual and wardrobe. And it doesn't come together.

Rex Harrison has been having an affair with a showgirl, partly out of a desire to help her find herself. (The viewer is permitted a slight snicker here.) The girl winds up killed in her own bedroom, victim of a serial killer, Anthony Dawson, always a fine ne'er do well, whose motive are unclear but, judging from the hints we're given, run along the same lines as those of Jack the Ripper.

Circumstantial evidence all points to Harrison, who discovered the body by accident, then fled the scene because he's happily married to Lilli Palmer and didn't want his involvement to become public. He's arrested and faces the hangman.

It may be hard to believe but the plot has so many gaping holes in it that it sinks by the bow. On top of that, the dialog has no sparkle, and the courtroom scenes, which I ordinarily relish, are limp and rather dull. They seem to drag on, repeating things we already know, the sort of exchanges that are usually skipped over in movies about trials.

Not to fault that nearly impeccable cast, though. I prefer Harrison in comic roles, where he excels, but he carries off this business pretty well. Lilli Palmer as the supportive wife is luminescent with innocence. And the Chief Prosecutor (or whatever his title) is Denis O'Dea -- the young Irish street singer in John Ford's "The Informer." But is he STEELY here, or what? That dry, menacing, insinuating voice. It could freeze an entire lake.

Anthony Dawson as the killer gets your attention too, although he does it by being too obviously nuts. He was better as the more suave murderer in "Dial M For Murder." Here, he's pop-eyed with his delusions and, for some reason, he follows Lilli Palmer about and tries to ingratiate himself with her. I didn't understand it. But then I didn't understand a lot of things. Harrison had had an argument with a bartender at the time of the murder, yet the bartender is never called up. Another witness that could save Harrison dawdles around while his shrewish wife orders him not to get involved.

The elements are there, and they're satisfactory, but the weaknesses are so glaring that it all evens out and the movie is routine. Want to see a more gripping and trickier flick? Try "Witness For The Prosecution."

Worth watching for a glimpse at 50s London, and some fine performances

[lucyrf · 4/10 · 6 March 2019]

The fine performances are not given by the leads, however.

The settings are great: a cosy, smoky and seedy "Joe's Club". Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer's suburban bungalow where they have gone overboard for white-painted wrought iron, a long-forgotten design fad. Even the clock is made of wrought iron. Rose Mallory's room in a cheap boarding house. Dark, damp alleys.

Eric Pohlmann is good as the reluctant witness, and whoever played his wife. (I like their flat, too, and the straw-covered chianti bottle.) Brenda de Banzie is great as the sluttish landlady complaining that hers is a "respectable house". It is always good to see Raymond Huntley and even Michael Medwin. I particularly liked the girl who played Rose's rather laddish friend. And Anthony Dawson is always a good villain (Swan/Lesgate of Dial M for Murder).

Unfortunately the story is badly told. The two dancers' characters are better established than Harrison and Palmers'. Harrison unconvincingly yells that he's innocent. The trial doesn't really work. Why does the landlady leave the witness box - nobody told her she could go? It's even hard to work out which is the prosecutor and which the defender. Palmer is supposed to be such a marvellous actress. She was certainly very beautiful, but her dewy-eyed faith in her husband is both one-note and unconvincing. How did the police know where to find the real murderer?

Only worth watching if you yearn for old Soho (though it's supposed to be Earl's Court). And Earl's Court is in "central London".

1951, the year of my birth, was not a great year for fashion. The landlady is still wearing late 40s fashions, as is the other dancer, and they both look better than poor Lilli Palmer.

In a way this is a propaganda film, the message being: stand by your man, and a suburb is better than a club/boarding house in Soho. Unfortunately the suburb seems terminally dull, and wifely devotion only sends your husband into the arms of a showgirl.

Just down the hall.

[morrison-dylan-fan · 8/10 · 27 March 2016]

Whilst looking for details on Rex Harrison's 1978 Bollywood movie Shalimar (!) I found out about a weird sounding Film Noir that Harrison made with his wife,which was "inspired" by the suicide of Harrison's lover Carole Landis (with Harrison being the last person to see Landis,leading to question on the "suicide" verdict.)Gathering up titles to watch over the Easter holiday,I decided that it was time to walk down the hall.

The plot:

Continuing his affair with chorus girl lover Rose Mallory, Arthur Groome goes to a café to meet up with Mallory.Looking at the time,Arthur starts to suspect that Mallory may be cheating on him.Letting himself into her flat, (what a charmer!)Arthur discovers Mallory's blood-drenched dead body.Whilst checking to see if Mallory's is dead.Arthur moves her body and gets his suit covered in her blood.Despite burning the suit,Arthur gets caught up in the police investigation and becomes the lead suspect. Believing they have enough proof, the police decide to take Arthur to court on a murder charge,which will lead to Arthur and his wife Mary going down the long dark hall of Arthur's private life.

View on the film:

Going down a hall of murder for the opening, directors Reginald Beck and Anthony Bushell cake the Film Noir in a grubby atmosphere,as the directors and cinematographer Wilkie Cooper (who also worked on Hitchcock's Stage Fright) linger in the alleyways and dig into the dirt,and pull the rough-edge murder scenes out of the deep mud- drenched low-lights across the screen.Entering the courtroom,the directors impressively keep the Noir mood flowing across the room with stylish overlapping images which put the decayed Film Noir loner in the same position as the law.

Pulled down the hall of Edgar Lustgarten's novel,the screenplay by Nunnally Johnson & W.E. Fairchild criss-crosses faded British Film Noir memories with a surgery moral message (with capital punishment still taking place in the UK at the time.) Whilst "the message" does clean up the Film Noir grit,the writers wonderfully grind Groome's down in reaching the light,by keeping Mary as a rigid statue,whilst Arthur caves into his shattered Film Noir memory.

Appearing to "go method" in her performance,Rex Harrison's wife Lilli Palmer gives a very good performance as Mary Groome,by giving Mary a rock solid belief in her Arthur's innocence,which withstands everything thrown at it.Calling this his worst movie (!),Rex Harrison gives an excellent performance as Arthur Groome,thanks to Harrison tearing Arthur's upper class English gentlemen charms into brittle Film Noir shreds,as Arthur finds himself in the long dark hall.