Pierrepoint (film)

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Pierrepoint

British theatrical quad
Directed by Adrian Shergold
Produced by Christine Langan
Written by Jeff Pope & Bob Mills
Starring Timothy Spall
Juliet Stevenson
Eddie Marsan
Music by Martin Phipps
Cinematography Danny Cohen
Editing by Tania Reddin
Distributed by Redbus Film Distribution (UK)
IFC Films (USA)
Release date(s) 12 September 2005 (Toronto Film Festival)
7 April 2006 (UK theatrical)
Running time 90 min.
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Official website
IMDb profile

Pierrepoint (Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman in North America), is a 2005 British film directed by Adrian Shergold about the life of British executioner Albert Pierrepoint.

The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the UK on 7 April 2006. In the US, following a very restricted theatrical release during summer-2007, the film became available on DVD on 30 October 2007.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The film follows Britain's most prolific hangman, Albert Pierrepoint (Timothy Spall), from the time he is first trained for the job and accepted onto the list of the country's official hangmen in 1932 until his resignation in 1956. We see him deal privately with his secret job until his post as Britain's hangman at the executions of Nazi war criminals puts him in the public eye. Taking pride in his professionalism, Pierrepoint executes James Inglis with the fastest hanging on record – seven seconds – and also hangs Ruth Ellis, the last woman executed in the UK. But he faces his toughest challenge when he is called on to hang his friend James "Tish" Corbitt, after Corbitt murders his girlfriend.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Themes

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Pierrepoint deals with the subject of capital punishment, and specifically hanging, through the eyes of the executioner. We see many executions taking place, and even towards the end of the film, they have the power to shock. However, we do not see a dark, sinister executioner, but a human being who takes pride in his work and maintains respect for the condemned, especially after they have been killed. The secrecy involved in the process of execution is examined, with Pierrepoint becoming almost a celebrity figure after his work in Germany at the executions of war criminals. This affects his work and his family, since both he and his wife encounter support and abuse from the public.

[edit] Criticism Of The Film

Despite very favourable reviews - particularly for Timothy Spall - the film did badly at the box office and its release to DVD also saw disappointing sales. Part of this was down to the fact that despite the claims of director Adrian Shergold at the Glasgow Film Festival where it was premiered that "everything in it was true", the film was criticised as appearing to be more interested in delivering an anti-capital punishment message than in sticking with the facts.

For example, the film portrays the notorious concentration camp guard Irma Grese as barking "You are doing the Jews work for them!" at Pierrepoint whilst weighing her, when Pierrepoint's autobiography and that of others involved in the Belsen trial executions said she was laughing and attempted to flirt with her captors. It was in fact Ernst Kaltenbrunner that was originally claimed to have said this. The hanging of the Belsen 13 is shown as taking place on a raised gallows in a large hangar, perhaps in confusion with the Nuremberg executions which took place in a gymnasium on 3 raised gallows. In reality Pierrepoint hanged the 13 on a gallows built to standard British specification, ie no steps to climb, in a room at the end of the corridor of cells in which they were held.

The film also saw Pierrepoint cajole a bewildered James Inglis to the block in order to beat the record time of a rival executioner called Ford who aimed to take over the post of Chief Executioner. But there never was a British executioner called Ford, and even the assistant executioner Syd Dernley (who was on poor terms with Pierrepoint) admitted in his own autobiography that Inglis ran to the trapdoor, much to Pierrepoint and the guards astonishment (as Inglis had asked - and was refused - a "practice execution" the day before, it seems it was his intention to get the record rather than Pierrepoint's.

Spall's own characterisation of Pierrepoint as a semi-simpleton married to a money obsessed wife, and divorced from the horrors of what he was doing until he was obliged to execute his own "friend" James Corbett also came for criticism from those that remembered Pierrepoint when he was alive. In addition, Corbett was not his friend, merely a casual acquaintance from his pub, and Pierrepoint had nothing of the emotional attachment and grief portrayed in the film. His outburst over the standard of the food served is used in the film to show his emotional state prior to hanging Corbett, but the incident actually took place before a different execution.

Small details throughout the film are inaccurate, including female prison officers standing on the gallows at executions of female prisoners, the "lobby" set up of Wandsworth being suggested as standard in all prisons, Pierrepoint's slow and clumsy actions in placing the hood and rope, Timothy Evans making claims of innocence, and other less important details. But the impression given is of Pierrepoint cracking up under the strain as time goes on, and this has no basis in fact.

The role was originally to have been played by Clive Revill - who had played Albert Pierrepoint in the 1991 movie Let Him Have It about the Christopher Craig/Derek Bentley case. However he was taken off - as subsequently was his replacement Warren Mitchell because they disagreed with the script and the direction Shergold clearly intended to take.

[edit] External links

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