Dr. Crippen (1962)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1962
Running Time	94:27 (Case: 98)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Robert Lynn
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Donald Pleasence Coral browne Samantha Eggar Donald Wolfit James Robertson Justice John Arnatt Oliver Johnston John Lee Olga Lindo Elspeth March Geoffrey Toone
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$19.95	Music	Ken Jones

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Unknown	English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    In a career that spanned a little over forty years, the late Donald Pleasence has some 212 acting credits in film and television. Although I have seen only a small portion of his work, there are three performances which stand out for me personally. His portrayal as George in Roman Polanski's 1966 film, Cul-de-sac was suitably enigmatic. Another highlight was his disturbing performance as Doc Tydon in the brilliant, Wake In Fright. Perhaps one of Donald Pleasence's most underrated film performances was in the lead role of Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen in Robert Lyn's 1962 film, Dr Crippen.

    The film is based on an infamous London murder trial in 1910. Chances are though, most people outside of the UK have never heard of Dr Crippen - either the person or the film.

    Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen (Donald Pleasence) was an American doctor. In 1900 he moved to London with his second wife and aspiring stage performer, Corrine "Belle" (Coral Browne). They soon took in boarders at their modest home to help supplement his meagre income - this also suited her flirtatious nature.

    Over time, their marriage went into serious decline. Corrine openly started having affairs with men just to spite her oppressed husband. The doctor passively tolerated her indiscretions for many years, until he too found a new romantic interest.

    Dr Crippen fell in love with a much younger woman, Ethel Le Neve (Samantha Eggar in her first film role). Ethel was a very attractive and devoted woman, who worked as a typist for Dr Crippen. It was Ethel who innocently instigated the idea that the doctor might "treat" his wife for her constant bursts of anger and drunken rages.

    After some research and without the knowledge of Ethel, Crippen decided to administer a very small dose of hyoscine to his wife, which he hoped would act as a sedative. But something went terribly wrong and she died. Crippen dismembered her body and buried her remains in the cellar. He told all enquirers (including his young lover) that his wife had decided to leave England and return the America. But suspicion was never far from Dr Crippen. Some poor decisions soon brought about his arrest for murder and Ethel for being an accessory to murder.

    The film opens with Dr Hawley Crippen and Ethel Le Neve standing trial. From here, the narrative moves nicely between the courtroom and the events which led to their demise.

    To this day, there remains ambiguity regarding the guilt or innocence of Dr Crippen. In 2007, new DNA evidence cast some doubts over the case. Did he deliberately murder his wife or was it just a horrible accident? Was Ethel an accessory to the murder or was she innocent of all knowledge?

    Dr Crippen was beautifully shot in black and white by Nicolas Roeg (credited here as Nick Roeg). It remains a somewhat underrated British film from the 1960's, with a wonderfully sombre performance by Donald Pleasence.

Video

    Dr Crippen is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, which is 16x9 enhanced. Although on occasion there is evidence of very slight cropping top and bottom (the final studio credit an example), I would say with confidence that this transfer would be close to the correct aspect ratio for the film.

    Overall the transfer looks very good. The image has excellent sharpness and clarity, especially in close-up. There is some minor film grain present, however this is probably inherent in the source material.

    As I mentioned earlier, Dr Crippen was filmed in black and white. Contrast is fine and the image has good depth.

    There were no MPEG artefacts noticed in the transfer. Film-to-video artefacts were well controlled. Apart from a fine vertical scratch in the opening scene of the film, film artefacts were virtually non-existent.

    Unfortunately, there are no subtitles on the DVD.

    This is a DVD 5, single layer disc, so there is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There is only one audio track available on the DVD, English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (224Kb/s).

    The quality and clarity of the dialogue was excellent throughout. A few infrequent and quiet audio pops were heard, but none were disruptive.

    Audio sync was generally fine, although the occasional lapse was evident. This was more likely an ADR issue, rather than a problem with the transfer. An obvious, but brief example occurs with a woman talking during the ship scene at 73:12.

    The original music score is credited to Ken Jones. The opening music is a little over-dramatic for my liking. It sounds like the theme of an old television police or courtroom drama. However, the score is quite effective past this point.

    The surround channels and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The main menu is static, 16x9 enhanced and features a sample of Ken Jones music.

    There are no extras on this DVD.

    At the time of this review there is no R1 edition of Dr Crippen available. There is a UK R2 edition, released by Optimum, which seems pretty much identical to this Madman, R4 edition.

    Dr Crippen is an underrated British crime drama from the early sixties. The film is well written by Leigh Vance. Robert Lyn's direction is assured and performances are excellent all round.

    The transfers are fine.

    The downside to the presentation is there are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall