They Can't Hang Me (1955)

★ 6.7 1h 15m IMDb

Drama Crime

A murderer hopes to escape his death sentence by identifying the leaders of a spy ring.

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Cast

Terence Morgan as Inspector Ralph Brown Died 2005 · Lewisham, London, England, UK Terence Morgan was born on December 8, 1921 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Hamlet (1948), Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951) and The Steel Key (1953).

Yolande Donlan as Jill Wilson Died 2014 · Jersey City, New Jersey, USA Yolande Donlan (born June 2, 1920 in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American actress who has worked extensively in the United Kingdom. She is the daughter of James Donlan, who was a hard working char...

André Morell as Robert Isaac Pitt Died 1978 · Saint Pancras, London, England, UK From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia André Morell (20 August 1909 – 28 November 1978; sometimes credited as Andre Morell) was a British actor. He appeared frequently in theatre, film and on televisi...

Reginald Beckwith as Harold Died 1965 · York, England, UK

Guido Lorraine as Pietr Revski Died 2009 · Krakau, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland] Guido Lorraine (2 September 1912 - 31 December 2009) was a Polish actor..

Director Val Guest

Cast Terence Morgan, Yolande Donlan, Anthony Oliver, André Morell, Reginald Beckwith, Ursula Howells, Guido Lorraine, Basil Dignam, Raymond Rollett, Fred Johnson

John Chard 6/10 Jul 26, 2014

Soho Killing: Senior Civil Servant Is Charged.

They Can’t Hang Me is directed by Val Guest and adapted to screenplay by Guest and Val Valentine from the novel written by Leonard Mosley. It stars Terence Morgan, Yolande Donlan, Andre Morell, Anthony Oliver and Reginald Beckwith.

When Robert Pitt (Morell) is convicted of murder and sentenced to death by execution, he offers the state a bargain. Grant him a reprieve and he will reveal the name of the master spy known as Leonidas before he leaves the country with some atomic secrets.

Thus it’s a race against time thriller as the coppers follow the various leads while Pitt grows ever more frantic in his cell. Ideally the police want to find Leonidas without Pitt’s help, he is after all a murderer and the state officials are reluctant to grant the requested reprieve. The usual quota of suspects are thrust into the story at regular intervals, giving us a “who is it” thread, while Morgan’s head copper tries to keep his lover happy as the search for Leonidas constantly drags him away from planned romantic evenings with her. This is actually a fun thread that’s not played for marital drama, as is the byplay between Morgan and Oliver, two intrepid Inspectors who exchange banter and quips even as the pressure mounts.

Enjoyable without ever reaching great heights as a spy thriller, They Can’t Hang Me is cautiously recommended to fans of such genre fare. 6/10

CinemaSerf 6/10 Nov 14, 2022

André Morell is "Pitt" - in jail awaiting hanging for murdering a prostitute. At the last minute he contacts "Insp. Brown" (Terence Morgan) with information about master spy "Leonidas" who is about to take a top scientific secret behind the iron curtain - in return for his life! Together with his sidekick Anthony Oliver ("Insp. Newcombe") they set off to thwart this plan. It's a decent enough story that moves along a-pace. Yolande Donlan adds a bit of light relief as the fiancée who spends much of her time waiting around for her detective boyfriend and there are just enough red herrings to keep this intriguing, if a bit lightweight thriller, going for 75 minutes.