User reviews

Wow--talk about divergent reviews. Two apparently hated the film (giving it a score of 2) and two liked it very much (giving it a score of 7). I think my opinion is somewhat in the middle--though I think giving the film a 2 is awfully silly. It's NOT a bad film, though I would agree with goldbug-2 that the forensic work done by the police seems sloppy. In fact, up until late in the film, I could look past the problems with the knife and other evidence. However, the completely unbelievable ending and the major mistake in the film concerning the witness they could not locate made me mad--as it just looked sloppy and the film seemed to be wrapped up too quickly. Let me explain the problem with both. Rex Harrison's character insisted there was a witness that could place him at the restaurant and later you see this witness come to court but then walk away without giving evidence. How could this be? The film was told to an author by a newspaper man but how could the newspaper man tell that the witness DID come to court but then ran away without telling anyone--how could he have known this?! As for the ending, the film maintained a rather steady pace throughout but at the end, everything was basically described to the audience--neatly wrapping everything up but not even showing what they were describing! It was like they decided not to film the last 20 minutes of the movie and just sum it up in 5!! Sloppy indeed.

It's all rather sad, as up until then, the film was well written, acted and kept my attention. Sadly, I was anticipating giving the film a 7--but the sloppy ending really brought the film down to the level of mediocrity. Too bad.

By the way, I rarely directly complain about an other review, but the one reviewer that complained ad nauseum about the 1950s really needs to stick to the film itself and not give us a diatribe about sexism and repression. You can't so strongly attack one film because you have such strong contempt for the 1950s! Who cares what you think about the 1950s? While I do agree that Lilli Palmer played a woman with very low self-esteem (considering how much she excused her womanizing husband), such vehemence about the film is just bizarre. Her character might have justified giving the film a somewhat lower score, but not this low.

Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer star in the British "The Long Dark Hall," from 1951.

Harrison plays Arthur Groome, who stands trial for the murder of a showgirl, played by Patricia Wayne. Actually, the person who did it is a man who has killed before (Anthony Dawson), which we see in the beginning. However, thanks to some circumstantial evidence, Groome, who was involved with Rose, stands accused.

His wife Mary (Palmer) knows he couldn't have killed the woman, no matter what, and stands by him.

This evidently was an attempt to cash in on the suicide of Carole Landis in 1948. As the story goes, Harrison, who was married to Palmer at the time, refused to divorce her and marry Landis, which is said to have driven Landis to suicide. She left two suicide notes, one of which was for Harrison, and Harrison destroyed it and claimed he knew no reason for her suicide. This was long ago, and I imagine many stories have sprung up and been embellished, so it's hard to know what happened. It is known that Landis knew by 1948 that she wasn't going to have the career she wanted; she was 29, and by the time you were a female aged 30 in Hollywood, you were done playing the kind of role she did. Palmer stood by Harrison during the scandal and attended Landis' funeral with him.

Now, why these two would have agreed to do this film is beyond even my wild imagination, except both of them might have been trying to prove something.

It's an okay movie with one problem. We are taken through the criminal's first murder and his murder of Rose; the arrest of Arthur; the trial; the testimony; his alibi witness guilty for not coming forward; the verdict. And then, one minute before the film ends, we are told the whole rest of the story. It seemed a little abrupt to me, as if the money ran out or something.

The acting is very good, Harrison a great pro and Palmer, lovely and elegant. Though she and Harrison did not divorce until 1956, she left him in 1954 and made films in her native Germany, though she continued to make American films.

The plot is not original...Mistress is Murdered,Married Man accussed...Wife stands by him. But Sir Rex Harrison makes you believe in the story. Harrison gives an extremely fine and brilliant performance which raises the film from a typical pot boiler into the story of a regretful innocent man. Lily Palmer (at the time..Mrs. Harrison) is also in fine form as his on screen wife.

A Broody, Moody Movie that is a slightly better than Average British Thriller that makes up for its slim Story and vapid Ending with Atmospheric touches and strong Characters. It has a striking Noirish beginning with very dark streets inhabited by a Serial Killer that resembles a sewer rat.

One of the Victims has a cheating Husband as a Lover and He is falsely accused of Her Murder. The middle becomes a Courtroom Melodrama with cross examinations and suspect Witnesses. This all leads to a confrontation between the real Killer and the Accused Man's Wife that is edge of your seat Suspenseful.

This Movie has a Sleazy Look and a Downbeat Tone that aside from the aforementioned Wrap Up, places it in the Realm of Foreign Film-Noir and has a Creep Factor that is exploited by the truly unsettling Murderer and dingy surroundings. Slightly underrated.

Solid if not impressive light thriller about a man infatuated with a young actress whilst still married soon to be entombed in a vault of lies when the young girl turns up dead and murdered - not by his hand or so he says? Rex Harrison gives a subtly good performance as Arthur Groome - the man who loves his wife and children yet also "loves" the young murdered actress. The film chronicles how the pieces of that puzzle unravel and whether or not Groome or someone else is the actual murderer. As a mystery film The Long Dark Hall is effective and entertaining for the most part. Harrison is as ever affable and Lili Palmer, his real-life wife, plays his wife here. All of the British cast do workmanlike jobs with Anthony Dawson particularly being effective. Patricia Cutts plays a very lovely girl in her turn as the victim. I would agree that the ending is somewhat unsatisfying and predictable but not wholly bleak. Directors Anthony Bushell and editor Reginald Beck(also getting his one time directorial credit for this film)create some very nice work - particularly those shots of the long, dark hall. This film is not a big budget affair in any way but still makes for a relaxing, enjoyable time.

A very fine actress was Lilli Palmer - sensitive, thoughtful, moving - and this picture gives us another reason to admire her skill. And anyone wishing to learn how to create a believable performance would do well to study her work and profit by bit. In THE LONG DARK HALL she brings great strength to her role as a wife who wants to believe in her husband, come what may.

THE LONG DARK HALL was produced by Rex Harrison himself. For the film he brought together a fine group of artists to help him make it, among them screenwriter Nunnally Johnson, whose long and distinguished record in the film world needs no introduction. He chose a top British cinematographer, Wilkie Cooper, to bring the proper film noir look and mood to the film and commissioned Benjamin Frankel to compose another of his fine scores. The cast is extremely good. One always marvels at the effortless perfection of the likes of Denis O'Dea, Brenda de Banzie and Raymond Huntley who have never, to my knowledge, ever given a bad performance. The villainy in the film was in the very capable hands of Anthony Dawson, whom many will remember as the paid murderer in Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER.

While the ending is cobbled together a shade too quickly the great fun I had watching this drama made up for any disappointment. After all, the ending was a logical one, even if it could have been handled with a bit more cinematic flair. All in all, a nice, atmospheric, well-made thriller.

Rex Harrison stars as Arthur Groom, a man on trial for murdering a stage girl. This girl was young and became an obsession of Groom. The timeline becomes very critical as Groom claims that he spoke to a "large Italian man" at 10:00pm, the very time when the girl was murdered. All the circumstantial evidence such as the knife, seen there, lied about being in neighborhood and knowing the girl. No one can find his alibi. Trouble is as Groom tells everyone on the witness stand "I'm telling the truth but no one believes me, trouble is that it doesn't sound true, what good is the truth when it doesn't sound true." Lilli Palmer is Mary Groome, his faithful wife that stands with Arthur but will her marriage vow of "until death" be tested.

When Arthur Groome (Rex Harrison) finds his girlfriend murdered at her Earls Court flat and becomes stricken with grief and fear, he promptly runs from the scene of the crime. Questioned by the police about the crime, Arthur, a married man, in panic denies all knowledge of the girl. Soon, however, he finds himself charged with murder and inexorably drawn towards the gallows...

Directed by Anthony Bushell and Reginald Beck, it is adapted to screenplay by Nunnally Johnson and William Fairchild from Edgar Lustgarten's novel. Harrison's real life wife at the time, Lilli Palmer, plays his loyal spouse here, while Benjamin Frankel scores the music and Wilkie Cooper is the cinematographer.

Largely ignored and underseen these days, due in the main that some critics of the time noted it has uncomfortable parallels to the real life Harrison and Carole Landis suicide affair - plus Harrison himself quickly denounced the film as dreadful - it's actually a decent wrong man court case picture often filmed in gorgeous film noir styles.

There is no mystery element here, for we know Arthur is innocent, and in fact we know who the killer is. We are given two murders in the first twenty minutes, each a year apart, the first is photographed on the outside in shadows, gaslights and upon a moist cobbled alleyway. The second, where the object of Arthur's lovelorn attention (Patricia Cutts) resides, is stifling in its cruel intensity.

It's a sly story of obsession, circumstantial devilments, manipulation and somewhat oddly, loyalty. The suspense is ramped up as Arthur gets ever deeper in the mire during the court case (look how Cooper photographs the critical sequences in court), while his loving wife is being befriended by the real murderer (a wonderfully rat faced Anthony Dawson) who has his own distorted motives that he wants to bare out.

Viewing it now the police work due to the writing comes off as being very shoddy, and the finale is just a bit too much leftfield to wholly satisfy. Yet this is a very tidy Brit-Noir styled suspenser that comes recommended to fans of leading man and noirish visuals. 7/10

Rex Harrison was primarily a stage actor and indeed a very fine one. He returned to the theatre following the well-documented suicide of Carole Landis which effectively scuppered his Hollywood career until being welcomed back into the fold some fifteen years later.

The plot of this has eerie echoes of the scandal and the similarities are surely too marked to be coincidental. Should this be an attempt to capitalise commercially on that unfortunate episode it is one that is both shoddy and misjudged.

It is co-directed by Anthony Bushell who also plays the defence counsel and Reginald Beck. Mr. Bushell although a fair enough actor, cannot direct traffic. Mr. Beck is one of our best editors but happily this is his only directorial assignment.

Oodles of moody, noirish cinematography here courtesy of Wilkie Cooper and an atmospheric score by Benjamin Frankel. Unfortunately the entire cast sinks beneath the weight of the leaden direction and a truly atrocious script. As the wrongfully accused husband this has to be the nadir of Mr. Harrison's film career whilst the wondrous Lili Palmer as the faithful wife somehow manages to rise above the dismal material. One's admiration for Miss Palmer's abilities knows no bounds. Her best scenes by far are those with Anthony Dawson as the self-styled 'instrument of justice'. Mr. Dawson is wonderfully creepy and is basically warming up for his performance in 'Dial M for Murder.'. Brenda de Banzie makes her film debut as a 'respectable' landlady. This marvellous actress would have made more films than she did but by all accounts directors found her notoriously difficult.

One would like to accept the weaknesses of this film in exchange for its strengths but the former outnumber the latter to such an extent that one is fighting a losing battle.

Best to leave the final words to Rex Harrison himself. "My worst film? 'The Long Dark Hall' must be near the top of the list".

The Long Dark Hall is a crime drama starring Rex Harrison and his real- life wife (at the time), Lilli Palmer, who in the film, play husband and wife, Arthur and Mary Groome.

This seems to be a story within a story as told by a newspaper reporter to a crime novelist. But, the internal story is the one that I focused on throughout the movie.

In this story, Arthur and Mary Groome appear to be a happily married couple who live in Richmond with two young daughters. However, when a London showgirl is found dead on a night that Arthur visited her—which he admitted to everyone that he often did--he is accused of her murder. Yet, he claimed he did not kill her, and his wife, Mary, totally believes him.

His accusation and trial for her murder is based on a ton of circumstantial evidence, including his knife at the scene, witnesses, and her blood on his suit (which he admits, he in the trial, that he burned because it couldn't be dry cleaned)....

The Long Dark Hall is proof positive that our friends across the pond in the United Kingdom can be just as crassly exploitive as American film makers can be. I'm sure the casting of Mr.&Mrs. Rex Harrison in a film about the death of a woman that Rex was involved with and the fact that Lilli Palmer played his dutiful and loyal wife in this same film was no coincidence. The scandal about the death of Carole Landis was still fresh in people's minds on both sides of the Atlantic.

Harrison plays a mild mannered husband and father who has gotten himself involved with a beautiful showgirl played by Patricia Cutts a woman of dissolute morals and habits. When she later is murdered, some stupidity on Harrison's part and some sloppy investigation on the part of Scotland Yard gets Harrison arrested.

The case is all circumstantial but a bad performance by Harrison on the witness stand seals his fate.

The Long Dark Hall pulled itself up a couple of notches in the ratings department from me with an ending that literally was out of left field. I have to say I didn't see that coming. The film also plays better on this side of the pond than others because a good knowledge of British history of the period would help you see what was coming. My knowledge is good, but not that good.

Nevertheless the film was clearly made to take advantage of the notoriety that Harrison got with the Landis death even though that one was a suicide.

I cannot believe the first line description of this film by IMDB. They are almost 100% accurate with all of their descriptions once you click through the movie link to the description. A dedicated family man? I think not. He wanted to help the actress with her career as the primary motivation? Again, I think not. Obviously, as he states in his own words, he was obsessed with the woman romantically (as in his letters as well). IMDB needs to change this description asap. On to the review. The film, starring Rex Harrison and Lili Palmer is much better than your average court drama. Both players do a superb job in the leads. The ending is a bit convenient, but other than that, the film is engaging. Well worth your time.

Everyone knows Rex Harrison plays Henry Higgins in every role, but there are two exceptions: Staircase and The Long Dark Hall. The latter is actually a decent drama for the most part. Yes, it does feel a bit dated and British, but if you're super excited to see Rex Harrison cry, you probably won't mind.

The movie starts off with a murder. A showgirl is killed by an unknown assailant, and her boyfriend Rex (who has been waiting to meet up with her) discovers her dead on the floor. In shock, he embraces her and gets blood on his suit. He flees the scene and returns home to his wife and tries to pretend nothing's wrong. When the police come sniffing around, he lies. Blood on his clothes, witnesses to his location, lies on his sworn statement, and secret love letters the victim was supposed to have burned all pin Rex solidly into the murder corner...

If you're not a Rex fan, you probably won't like this one. It's a different performance from him, but the rest of the movie isn't so fantastic and mysterious that it'll keep you on the edge of your seat. It's predictable, but then again, lots of courtroom dramas are. One bonus will be seeing real-life husband and wife Rex and Lilli Palmer acting together.

We know the murderer from the beginning and are as fully aware of Rex Harrison's innocence as himself, but what does it help? As he states himself, "I know it's the truth but that it doesn't sound true." All the circumstantial evidence is against him, and the one witness that could set him free dares not stand up because of his dinosaur of a wife who makes him think too much of the consequences, as he also has been playing around. It's a perfect script, and it is cleverly presented, as Anthony Bushell himself appears in the role of the lawyer, giving occasional glimpses and hints of the developing very critical case. The film could be seen as a major argument against the death penalty, which was abolished five years later. Rex Harrison shows a uniquely soft portrait of the happy family man with two daughters and the best of wives, Lilli Palmer, who never doubts him no matter how he has been playing around. She was always one of my favourite actresses, she was never disappointing or taking part in any bad film, and you will remember her better than Rex after this film. On top of all this is the outstanding music and a very interesting cinematography. The one unpleasant ingredient is the murderer, whom you, like Lilli Palmer, get to know too closely.

This is a pretty interesting mystery. It's not really suspenseful but it's done with style.

However, I wonder what purpose it was meant to serve for the public relations of its star Rex Harrison. His friend Carole Landis, a charming star of generally minor films, had killed herself a few years before this came out. As a result, his therefore rising box office appeal had plummeted. Indeed, the brilliant "Unfaithfully Yours" had the bad fortune to come out right after Ms. Landis had died. No one wanted to see Rex Harrison killing a woman over and over -- even if it was in his imagination. "Unfaithfully Yours" was not a success, despite director Preston Sturges's career as Hollywood (apparent) golden boy. Sturges really did not survive this failure commercially.

So, here we have a decent man accused of murdering a pretty young woman. Like the star himself, the character is married to (the very appealing) Lilli Palmer. I don't want to give away the plot. Let's just say that this is a movie that comes out against quick decisions in tabloid cases.

Can this have been a coincidence? Maybe it was. I don't know anything about its history. However, I sincerely doubt that it was.