User Reviews

** Major Spoiler Warning** Currently available as part of a DVD double feature with the excellent "The Scar", this British mystery flick featuring Lloyd Bridges is moderately enjoyable, but takes forever to set up its premise (45 minutes out of an 80 minute movie) and the ending is preposterous, negating the entire story. (Think a certain season of "Dallas" with Bobby Ewing in the shower and you'll get the idea.) Although this is sold as film noir on the DVD, it doesn't really fit the genre. For me, noir is about finding a moral center in a morally ambiguous world. There's none of that here, none of the atmospherics, just a straight-up who done it/why done it. It borrows a page or two from "The Third Man" but is far less effective.

If you pick up the DVD, "The Scar" is well worth your time, but this one is pretty pale by comparison.

Frank Pryor a former American GI visits London . As he gets off the plane he asks a man for a light . The man kindly does so and is shot by a sniper . The police reveal that the dead man was Kendal Brown a known criminal . Frank Pryor goes to visit an old flame Pauline French who it later transpires knew Kendal Brown

I came to write up my review of THE LIMPING MAN and before did so looked through the comments on this page which are unanimously along the lines of " OMG what a terrible ending that totally ruined the film " but I can't help thinking everyone is missing the point and are tearing away at the ending without giving too much scrutiny to the rest of the film which doesn't hold up without that ending

The problem I had is that it's the lead up to the ending that is the problem . A man is shot dead while an American is visiting London and yet everyone the American meets in London knew Kendal Brown in some capacity including the love interest of the American Frank Pryor . London of course is a city of several million people and yet everyone knew Kendal Brown ? Throughout the film I kept chuckling " Yeah right " then when the shock twist ending happened it did make a sense of sort within the film's own reality . It might be a cop out but how many films have you seen where everything relies on coincidence and no shock plot twist happens ? It's a bonkers ending that might cheat its audience but at least it makes sense of sorts

"The Limping Man" has the makings of a fairly good mystery until the let down at the end of the film, which makes a more thorough review a moot point. Lloyd Bridges stars in this British film as former military man Franklin Prior returning to London to reunite with an old flame. However Pauline French (Moira Lister) may be mixed up in some kind of trouble involving the assassination of a former lover of hers. Now she's being blackmailed by, who else, the former lover, who's not really dead.

So who's the limping man? Take your pick - the stage door manager at the theater where Helene Castle (Helene Cordet) performs walks with a cane. Assassin target turned blackmailer Kendall Brown (Tom Gill) uses a rifle fashioned as a walking stick. This would have all been wonderful fun if Bridges' character hadn't suddenly awoke from his trans-Atlantic flight to discover that he had just arrived in London, with character Brown sitting behind him on the plane. Shades of Dallas and Bobby Ewing, but at least you didn't waste an entire season of episodes to get hoodwinked. Here, it took less than an hour and a half.

I'm surprised that so many people seem to be disappointed with the ending of this film. The story is typical of a 1950s British crime film with good performances by all - but this ending makes it a bit different. It has the inevitable American lead, in this case the excellent Lloyd Bridges, to make it attractive to the US. The story is seen through to the expected ending but then we find that the story was not perhaps located where we thought it was. It does not mean that the story, still a fictional one of course, becomes any less entertaining because of it. As I get older I realise that an "unconscious" mind, so to speak, is capable of great detail and can set many random and complex problems for which it then tries to find solutions, it must then try to resolve at least some of them before it returns to full consciousness. The clues are there, remember the limping man being followed to the riverside, where did he go? Yes, the shock of the ending is sudden, but when you wake up it's usually like that, all may be forgotten in a flash. Did the writer of the original story or the director think of it like that, or was it just an attempt to be different, a joke, just for the sake of it? I don't know but I liked it.

A great deal seems to happen in a relatively short time in this entertaining murder mystery and it's this pace that plays such a significant part in making "The Limping Man" so enjoyable to watch. Apart from murder, its story also involves blackmail, smuggling and a serious case of mistaken identity, as well as a series of surprising plot developments that all add to the intrigue that deepens consistently as the murder investigation progresses.

American ex-serviceman Frank Prior (Lloyd Bridges) returns to London to meet up with the girlfriend that he left behind six years earlier. As he and the other passengers disembark from their plane and walk towards the airport terminal, he turns and asks the man behind him for a light, but when his fellow passenger obliges, he's immediately shot dead by a bullet from a sniper's rifle. Frank's disappointed when his girlfriend Pauline French (Moira Lister) isn't at the airport to meet him and then, because of the circumstances of the murder, has to be interviewed by a couple of Scotland Yard detectives. During his conversation with Inspector Braddock (Alan Wheatley) and Detective Cameron (Leslie Phillips), Frank learns that the dead man's papers indicated that he was Kendall Brown.

When Frank eventually meets up with Pauline, she's thrilled to see him and explains why she wasn't at the airport when he arrived. He sees from her many trophies that she's an accomplished marks-woman and also learns that she likes fast cars and boats. A photograph that the police found on Kendall Brown's body leads them to his apartment and a lady in the picture turns out to be Pauline. Another photograph that they find in Brown's apartment leads them to his ex-wife, Helene Castle (Helene Cordet) who works as a singing assistant in a magic show. It transpires that Brown was a criminal and a womaniser and that Pauline had been one of his conquests.

Pauline becomes the main murder suspect but Frank discovers that she's also got other troubles because she'd previously been involved in Brown's smuggling activities and is also being blackmailed because of some incriminating letters that she'd written. Clearly, when he decided that he wanted to reunite with his wartime sweetheart, Frank could never have imagined that it would lead him into such a web of intrigue.

There's a lot to enjoy in "The Limping Man" as it's very competently directed by blacklisted director Cy Enfield (who wasn't able to be credited for his work), the acting performances are consistently good and there are interesting cameo appearances by a very young-looking Lionel Blair and the well-known illusionist, Robert Harbin. It's just a shame that it all ends with a conclusion that's so sudden, incongruous and utterly disappointing. If it hadn't been for this, the movie would definitely have merited a higher rating.

THE LIMPING MAN is a dull vehicle for Hollywood exile Lloyd Bridges, shot in Britain on a low budget. The film certainly has an arresting opening with characters disembarking from a plane at which point one of the passengers is taken out by a lurking sniper. The rest of the film charts a police investigation into the murder while at the same time the film's protagonist, Bridges, learns that his old flame is mixed up in a sinister conspiracy plot.

This film is a perfect example of wasted potential. The opening makes for arresting viewing but after about 20 minutes the pace falls flat and the story just limps along lifelessly with little in the way of energy to see it through. It doesn't help that the cast feels lacklustre, with Bridges on autopilot and Moira Lister failing to show the audience why Bridges would bother making the effort of a Transatlantic crossing for her. Only Leslie Phillips is fun in a typical womaniser role. Watch out for a youthful Lionel Blair as a dancer and Jean Marsh in a debut cameo. THE LIMPING MAN also has one of the worst twist endings in all of cinema, yes, no joke, it really is a case of "it was all a dream" and just as awful as that sounds.

***SPOILERS*** Nobody knew at the time when the film "The Limping Man" came limping into the theaters in late 1953 what an impact it would have on it's audiences who were still around, if they didn't walk out earlier, for the films last few shocking and totally unexpected moments. It started out as your usual crime assassination flick with returning US WWII veteran Frank Prior, Llyod Bridges, getting off a plane from NY in London to rekindle an affair he had with his British girlfriend Pauline French, Moria Listen, six years ago. That soon lead to one of the plane passengers getting gunned down by an unseen sniper as Frank was about to give him a light! From then on Frank was hounded by Scotland Yard's Insp. Braddock, Alan Wheatley, and his assistant the skirt chasing Det. Cameron, Leslie Phillips, for the entire length of the movie. As for Pauline she seemed to have had some romantic relationship with the murdered man revealed to be Kendal Brown, Bruce Beebe, who was involved in smuggling contraband into the country.

It soon turns out that whoever murdered Kendal Brown had a noticeable limp, from the footprints found at the scene, and it was that limp or limper whom both the police Scotland Yard as well as Frank were out looking for to find Browns killer. As for Pauline she knew the truth all along about Brown and his illegal activities and kept her mouth shut so she won't be implicated in them. There's also the late Kendal Brown's estranged wife showgirl and magician aid Helene Castle, Helene Cordet, who identified his body at the London City morgue who didn't seem to show any emotion at all in knowing that he's gone and now not paying her rent or clothing bills!

***SPOILERS*** The movie leads up to a number of unexpected surprises in that we as well as Frank & Palline find out that Brown wasn't killed at all but faked his death by using some unknowing stooge, in not realizing what's to happen to him,to replace him and end up getting murdered! As for the now live Brown he want's his former lover Pauline to pay him off, with 2,000 pounds sterling, and slip him out of the country to France in her motorboat. That or else he'll release a number of revealing and incriminating letters that she sent him not just about her romance but criminal activities she had with him. The film ends with such a confusing climax that you have to re-watch it to get the massage that it's trying to tell you. That's if you ever saw the movie "The Wizard Oz" you'll quickly realize what it is!

Whoever is responsible for the story that told by this film simply didn't know of a reasonable way to pull it together, and so just let it fall apart.

After an unexplained separation of six years, an American flies to the UK to meet the woman whom he loves, an actress of some fame. As he and the other passengers walk from the plane to a terminal building, a man whom he stops by chance is felled by a sniper's bullet. The sniper walked with the assistance of a crutch. It is discovered that the woman whom the American has come to see had been both sexually involved and engaged in smuggling with the man identified as the victim of the sniper; apparently she was motivated to do these things because of her longing for the American. Further, her lover had subsequently blackmailed her, and now his presumptive widow, a singer, was blackmailing her. On the way, we discover that someone with an administrative rôle at the singer's theater uses a crutch. When the actress attempts to pay the singer, the actress and the audience learn that the presumptive dead man is still alive, and being assisted by his wife. The fellow with the crutch makes an appearance and is greatly injured by the blackmailer. The police, who have been going about the business of trying to solve the murder and trying to run the actress to ground show-up. A search for the blackmailer is begun; he has for no very good reason disguised himself as the fellow with the crutch, and when the police begin looking for a man with a crutch, it does not occur to him to chuck the thing aside; instead, he retreats to a balcony. When he is spotted, the America dashes after him, instead of allowing the surrounding police to do their job. A struggle ensues, with the American finding himself to be pushed off the balcony.

Were the film to break at this point, the audience would be left with many questions. Answering even just some of them in a satisfactory manner would be quite a challenge.

Well, the American awakes, because it was all a dream. That was the best answer that the writers had for us. (Formally, the ending has the disembarked American and the actress happily running each towards the other, perhaps to assure us that he hasn't dreamt exactly the future he were about to enter.) If, up to that point of awakening, the story had been, in some interesting way, dream-like, then that ending might be sensible or at least forgivable. But the story had been a haphazard construction of implausibilities, and the ending was simply a cheat.

Some play with the mystery thriller form—they add, accordingly, some lyricism, or stylization, or gritty toughness.

THE LIMPING MAN seems in fact a rather average mystery movie, without additives (such as the poetry of some melodramas or the stylization or the grittiness); and it's not the most exciting or suspenseful and eventful thriller. I have found this flick below its excellent reputation, yet clean. Understood as a clean, straightforward 'divertissement, it's good.

Lloyd Bridges plays the leading character, perhaps he's not necessarily one of my favorite actors, Moira Lister is his girlfriend, and a beautiful one, though some might find her face a little too masculine.

Lloyd Bridges stars in this British film. The film begins with him arriving in London to see his sweetheart who he hasn't seen since the war ended six years ago. On the tarmac, a shot rings out and the man next to Bridges is killed by a sniper! The rest of the film is a mystery—with lots of twists and turns. It's all reasonably good---even though several times, Bridges tries to work out the case himself instead of just letting the police do their job (a film cliché). But then…the ending. How can a mystery end so badly?! I could easily say a lot more—but don't want to in case you see it. However, before the twist ending, I would have given the film a 6 or possibly a 7—but it was SO bad, I think a 4 is perhaps a bit generous. Well acted but seriously undone by bad writing.

By the way, if you do watch it, get a load of the weird night club acts. The singing magic act and the odd xylophone routine certainly seemed odd!

Watch the very beginning carefully. Particularly the bit about the man behind borrowing the in-flight magazine it is a very important part of the script that most reviewers seem to have missed. The end will then make sense. The atmosphere of the film is excellent, particularly if you lived in London during the 1950s. PS: remember that when you dream anything can happen.

This turkey is reasonably well roasted, and even features some side dishes that are interesting to learn more about. The ending of The Limping Man, however, is so arbitrary and dishonest it makes clear how little regard for the audience, or for the integrity of their own movie, the producers must have had.

World War II vet Frank Prior (Lloyd Bridges) returns to London from America after six years to look up an old flame, Pauline French (Moira Lister), now a successful actress. As he and the other passengers deplane and walk across to the terminal, Frank pauses for a moment and asks the man beside him for a light. There's a gunshot and the man crumples to the ground, shot by a marksman with a high-powered rifle, an assassin with a limp. The dead man was named Kendall Brown. With Inspector Braddock (Alan Wheatley) and Detective Cameron (Leslie Phillips) on the case, it's clear that Prior is as mystified as everyone else. After Prior leaves the police to find Pauline, Wheatley and Cameron visit Brown's lodgings...and find a photo of a good-looking young woman. Yes, the photo is of Pauline French. It's not long before Frank Prior is up to his neck in murderous intrigue. The mix includes blackmail, smuggling, magic acts, gritty Thames-side docks, backstage theater doings, a pouting French singer and, Frank discovers, some indiscretions in Pauline's past. The plot, under Cy Endfield's direction, keeps moving briskly ahead. The photography is nifty, with lots of nighttime eeriness, shadowy theater cellars and fear-filled eyes highlighted in the gloom.

But the movie reeks of class-conscious accents and acting. Whole generations of British actors, if they were to have a hope of succeeding as lead players, had to master that plummy, nasal, upper-class diction that was supposed to be the hallmark of an English gentleman or lady. When sound came to the movies, that social stratification based on how one spoke was enforced with a vengeance. Things began to change for lead players only when Michael Caine hit the big-time in Britain and kept his Cockney accent. So here's Leslie Phillips, who grew to be a fine farceur, slim, young and in a supporting role as Cameron. He was raised in poverty with a Cockney accent. His mother was determined that he'd have a chance at a better life so she saw that he had elocution lessons. Phillips wound up with one of the ripest upper-class accents you can imagine, and in a long career he has used it to great, leering effect. His Cameron is very keen on the female figure, a characteristic Phillips, now in his eighties and still acting, has in real life. Phillips is a character and great fun to watch. One of his best roles is as Lord Flamborough in 1994's Love on a Branch Line. It's one of those British television productions that you'll either be delighted by or puzzled with. Moira Lister's Pauline French (Lister was born and raised in South Africa) sounds like the carefully educated daughter of the English landed aristocracy, the kind of woman who schedules her love life with her husband as meticulously as she schedules her social engagements with her equals, and with considerably less frequency. Lister was a successful actress on the stage as well as in the movies. She sounds a little like Joan Greenwood. She gives such an overly bred, mannered performance it seems unlikely she'd ever be attracted to an American ex-GI like Lloyd Bridge's Frank Prior. However, one of the pleasures of the movie is that Frank flies into London on a Lockheed Constellation. We see several shots of this most graceful of airplanes flying and on the ground.

The ending of The Limping Man is a complete cheat. While some of us might enjoy at least some of this movie's 76 minutes, and I'm one of them, its conclusion left me feeling that I'd just been made a fool of.

Cy Endfield, who directed the movie, did so under the name of Charles De la Tour, a man he paid to front for him. Endfield was blackballed in Hollywood during the witch-hunts. He could no longer get directing jobs so he left for Britain with his family. The only way his early British movies could be released in America was by hiding his name. He stayed in Britain and went on to direct using his real name Zulu, Mysterious Island, Sands of the Kalahari and others.