Timothy Spall, one of Britains best currently working character actors (he can be seen in films varied between Harry Potter and the Sheltering Sky), is probably one of the only outstanding reasons to see Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman, and probably not until it likely will air on PBS some weekday night. It's not a poorly made film, for the most part (with the exception of one dream scene set in a field with a scarecrow, which is a revolting taste of schlock surrealism, it's got believable production values), but it's mainly in the script that it falters the most. We're given as juicy a subject as one could hope for- capital punishment in Britain in the late 40s and early 50s, with Pierrepoint (Spall) as the best in the not-quite profitable business. After getting some acclaim from superiors and sent to hang 47 Nazi war criminals in a week, he gets even more acclaim from his friends at eh pub and on the street via the press. He doesn't want it, however, as he tries his hardest to keep his personal life out of his cold, detached mode at work, which is in the frame of the best of professional 'men' at work, with everything kept securely inside.
A lot of this does make for subtly compelling drama, particularly with the execution scenes, and the the little moments in-between with Pierrepoint and his assistant, or in how he keeps it out of the life he has with his wife. It's when the writers push ahead with the most deliberate and obvious point of the movie, about making the professional personal (which I understand and could work for the sake of the film), is made into something that switches gears radically from the rest of the film. The whole tie between Pierrepoint and his best singing buddy at the pub feels as if it was put in to drive it further home about how he loses his faith in his abilities to do his horrifically successful job, and seems to lack logic to boot (wasn't there a *trial* after all?). The whole aspect of Ruth Ellis is also put in almost as an after-thought, with the scene following her execution driving home the idea that if this were a documentary instead, it would be twice as compelling given all of the fact and trouble with the English justice system of the period.
But as it is, for a could-be-TV-movie, it does have some very good strengths to it. Along with Spall, the other actors pull in equally subdued and careful work, even from his friend (whom, oddly enough, Pierrepoint doesn't find out his full name until before it's "go" time), and skillfully weaves restraint in with chilling scenes of hangings- and how measurements are made in the most methodical of approaches- into an average result.
A lot of this does make for subtly compelling drama, particularly with the execution scenes, and the the little moments in-between with Pierrepoint and his assistant, or in how he keeps it out of the life he has with his wife. It's when the writers push ahead with the most deliberate and obvious point of the movie, about making the professional personal (which I understand and could work for the sake of the film), is made into something that switches gears radically from the rest of the film. The whole tie between Pierrepoint and his best singing buddy at the pub feels as if it was put in to drive it further home about how he loses his faith in his abilities to do his horrifically successful job, and seems to lack logic to boot (wasn't there a *trial* after all?). The whole aspect of Ruth Ellis is also put in almost as an after-thought, with the scene following her execution driving home the idea that if this were a documentary instead, it would be twice as compelling given all of the fact and trouble with the English justice system of the period.
But as it is, for a could-be-TV-movie, it does have some very good strengths to it. Along with Spall, the other actors pull in equally subdued and careful work, even from his friend (whom, oddly enough, Pierrepoint doesn't find out his full name until before it's "go" time), and skillfully weaves restraint in with chilling scenes of hangings- and how measurements are made in the most methodical of approaches- into an average result.