The Last Page [Man Bait] *** (1952, George Brent, Marguerite Chapman, Diana Dors, Raymond Huntley, Peter Reynolds) – Classic Movie Review 11,080

Director Terence Fisher’s 1952 black and white noir crime thriller The Last Page [Man Bait] is an odd but very watchable Hammer Film Productions mystery with a decent, exceptionally friendly cast working had to give it a tiny touch of class.

Blackmail, deception and death are mixed up in this cheaply made Hammer Films tale of innocent married American John Harman (George Brent), manager/ buyer of a London bookshop, giving in to a moment of weakness and canoodling with his sexy, weak-willed young assistant Ruby Bruce (Diana Dors). Ex-convict Jeff Hart (Peter Reynolds) starts to steal a rare book but is caught by Ruby, but instead of reporting him she agrees to meet him that night for a date. Later Jeff forces Ruby to blackmail Harman, who finds himself ending up being embroiled in a blackmail plot and blamed for a homicide, fleeing in panic

‘Poison never came in a prettier package!’, that would be the sensational sexpot Diana Dors, plus professional handling and a fairly effective script from Frederick Knott, the author of Dial M for Murder and Wait Until Dark, adapting a play by James Hadley Chase, the author of No Orchids for Miss Blandish. The film is a very interesting package, though Dors is the most interesting item in the package.

Also in the cast are Marguerite Chapman as Stella Tracy, Diana Dors, Raymond Huntley as Clive Oliver, Peter Reynolds, Eleanor Summerfield as Vi, Meredith Edwards as Inspector Dale, Harry Fowler as clerk Joe, Conrad Phillips, Nelly Arno as Miss Rossetti, David Keir, Eleanor Bryan, Isabel Dean, Jack Faint, Harold Goodwin, Leslie Weston, Lawrence O’Madden, Ian Wilson, Archie Duncan, John Mann, Lawrence Ward and Sybil Saxon.

The Last Page [Man Bait] is directed by Terence Fisher, runs 84 minutes or 78 minutes, is made by Hammer Film Productions and Lippert Pictures, is released by Exclusive Films (1952) (UK) and Lippert Pictures (1952) (US), is written by Frederick Knott, is shot in black and white by Walter J Harvey, is produced by Anthony Hinds, is scored by Frank Spencer, and designed by Andrew Mazzei. The music recording is by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The British version titled The Last Page runs 84 minutes but the US version titled Man Bait runs only 78 minutes.

Diana Dors receives an ‘introducing’ credit though she had already appeared in 18 films, starting with The Shop at Sly Corner in 1947.

The bookshop is on Queen Charlotte Street in Windsor, apparently the shortest street in Britain.

It is the first film in a four-year deal between Hammer Film Productions and Lippert Pictures, owned by California-born producer and cinema chain owner Robert L Lippert, who provided Hollywood stars like George Brent to attract American audiences.

It is the first of Terence Fisher’s 29 Hammer films over 22 years up to Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974) and the first of seven crime movies he directed for Hammer.

Brent left America to come to England on 2 July 1951 and filming started on 9 July 1951. It was released on 25 January 1952.

Chase’s play The Last Page premiered in London in 1946.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,080

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