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"If you want to remember your wife, send flowers. If you want to dismember her
send… Dr. Crippen."
Dr. Crippen is an account of one of the most infamous cases of murder in British
history: Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen (played by Donald Pleasence), an American
physician living in London, was the first criminal to be captured by aid of wireless
communication and hanged at Pentonville Prison on November 23rd, 1910 for the
murder of his wife, Cora Henrietta Crippen (Coral Browne, later seen in Theater of
Blood); a well known music hall entertainer who performed under the name of Belle
Elmore.
Crippen’s wife tired of him; it’s claimed that she had affairs and treated the mild-
mannered doctor as little more than a servant. Belle knew that Hawley had taken a
mistress, his typist Ethel le Neve (played by Samantha Eggar in her first film role), and
threatened to leave him, which would ultimately be good news for the doctor had she
not planned to take their joint savings with her.
After a party at their home on January 31st 1910, Cora "Belle" Crippen mysteriously
disappeared. Hawley Crippen claimed she had returned to the United States, where
she had later died and been cremated. However, from February 1st Ethel le Neve
began staying at the Crippen’s home at 39 Hilldrop Crescent, Camden Town and was
soon seen openly wearing items of the dead woman’s clothing and jewellery. Crippen
was also recorded as having pawned items of his wife’s jewellery on February 1st.
Belle's disappearance was initially brought to police attention by her friend Kate
Williams - known as the strongwoman, Vulcana. They didn’t however take things more
seriously until several months later when John Nash, another industry friend of Belle’s,
returned from the USA where he had made some unsuccessful enquiries about her
death and being unsatisfied with Crippen’s explanations went to Scotland Yard.
Hilldrop Crescent was searched and Crippen was interviewed by Chief Inspector
Walter Dew, yet nothing was found. Although Dew was satisfied with his lack of
findings, Crippin and le Neve panicked and fled to Brussels, with the intention to make
their way to Canada via ocean liner.
When Chief Inspector Dew later returned to the house to tie up some loose ends and
found it empty, the alarm was raised. Crippen and le Neve's descriptions were widely
circulated and Hilldrop Crescent was further searched, where the coal cellar’s brick
floor was raised and the dismembered remains of Mrs. Crippen were found buried in
lime.
On their voyage from Antwerp to Canada, Ethel tried to disguise herself as a boy. The
ship’s captain became suspicious of the couples behaviour and reported back to
London. Dew managed to board another ship and intercept the couple to arrest them
on 31st July 1910.
The film covers the build up of these events and focuses upon the resulting court case.
Of course, as with most films based on historical events, the accuracy of the portrayal
is maybe open to debate, yet it does come closer than many horror films that use
real-life killers as their source material.
The trial itself revealed the manner in which Crippen disposed of Belle’s corpse; her
bones and limbs were methodically removed before being burnt on the kitchen stove.
Her organs were then dissolved in an acid bath and her head was put handbag which
was later thrown overboard during a day trip to France. The film does tend to steer
aware from the more graphic nature of the crimes.
While all truly diabolical and horrendous, a question remains that has never been
satisfactorily answered 100% : did a hen-pecked Crippen finally snap and cold
bloodedly plan to murder his wife or was it simply an unfortunate accident? This is truly
what the film is about, leaning towards the theory that the murder wasn't
premeditated.
One leading theory, first put forward by Edward Marshall Hall (who was initially the
lead in Crippen’s defence), was that Crippen, while treating his wife with hyocine,
accidentally gave her an overdose and panicked when she died.
It has also been disputed if the body found in the cellar was actually that of Cora
Crippen - as late as 2007, when DNA tests were carried out, which if accurate, cast
new light upon the case and doubt upon Crippen’s guilt. A further theory born from
this is that Crippen was carrying out illegal abortions and disposed of a dead patients
body.
Crippen is fantastically portrayed by Donald Pleasence in one of his most underrated
and overlooked roles. Pleasence for me is an actor whose genre appearances are
always a treat, managing to raise even mediocre efforts into something watchable.
Here he puts in a performance which captures both the sinister, yet almost
sympathetic character of Crippen - a timid, mouse-like man who cowers in his wife’s
drunken presence.
Putting things into the context of when the film was made in 1962, it uses the nagging
doubts that have always surrounded the Crippen case to approach a hot topic of the
day; Britain had a social and political climate which was questioning the rights and
wrongs of the death penalty, especially after a public backlash against the hanging of
Ruth Ellis in 1955. The death penalty was finally abolished in the UK in 1964, within 2
years of the film being released.
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The film is presented in a pleasant 16:9 PAL anamorphic widescreen, which overall is
sharp in detail and depth, and seems to match the UK Optimum release. While nothing
to write home about, this is certainly the best you can expect a film of this age and
budget to appear on the format.
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An adequate 2.0 mono soundtrack which serves its purpose and has no dropouts or
glitches.
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Disappointingly this release is devoid of extras, which is a shame, but then no
different to the other releases available of the film.
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A great little film for fans of real-life crime dramas and British Horror, with solid
performances from Pleasence, Browne and Eggar. Some extras would’ve been great
and considering there are numerous documentaries about the real Crippen, one of
these would’ve made a nice feature.
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