Yield to the Night (1956)

At the beginning of the film, you see Mary Hilton (Diana Dors) mercilessly unloading her gun into a woman. Why exactly she did this, you have no idea...nor who the victim was. The story soon switched to Death Row in a British prison and only a bit later are there flashbacks to let you have so idea of what you're missing in the story of this woman. I do know that nothing in the story made me feel sorry for her...and Mary's narration sometimes seemed to cast herself as a victim, of sorts. However, although the aim of the film appears to be to get the audience to care, as various prison folk talk about how bad the death penalty is or express a lot of empathy towards her. In fact, I would go so far as to say I wanted to see Mary hang for her actions and lack of regard for her murder....and so the film doesn't achieve its aim, at least for me. So, although the film excels at realism in some ways, it ultimately fails in getting the audience to care.

.......and,regrettably I feel you have to have been there to appreciate it. Lots or R.P.,a few cheery( or miserable in this case) cockneys and women mostly portrayed as either neurotic (the prisoner) or cold - blooded(the screws). And the men aren't much different. The murder victim is scarcely worthy of Miss Dors' grand passion,her so - called friends utterly trivial. It was the age of Suez,the Hungarian Uprising and the gradual decline of the post - war certainties that had kept the country afloat on a flimsy raft of patriotism and colonial mentality. Some things were taken as self - evident....you killed someone and the State could and sometimes would kill you in return. Knowing that, it might be thought that you had to be mad to kill someone,yet insanity was a legitimate defence against a murder charge;an early Catch 22. Most ordinary people were pretty much in favour of capital punishmnent in 1956 despite claims to the contrary.. True there was a growing opposition to it from vaguely Left - Wing groups and the contemporary equivalent of "Guardianistas",and of course "Creatives" have always embraced minority causes thus films like "Yield to the night" and later "I want to live" (interestingly Miss Dors speaks that very line towards the end) could be made and could be successful at the box - office and influential towards public opinion. Some years ago Miss Dors was cruelly referred to as "Forgotten but not gone." Not true - not by my generation who collected her photos from "Picturegoer" and asked aunts and uncles for her L.P. "Swinging' Dors". Here she superbly underplays the condemned woman who probably nowadays would get five years for manslaughter and go on to write a best - seller about it. Sadly that was not the case 60 years ago and she is duly hanged in a suitably stiff upper lipped British manner,leaving her last cigarette burning in the ashtray. Apart from the star, the best performance in the film for me is Miss Marjorie Rhodes as a determinedly cheerful P.O. who clearly is fighting a natural compassion. The excellent Miss Y.Mitchell is emotionless even when overcome with emotion which I don't know is worthy of praise or not. Certainly the role did her no harm and she was all over our telly for years. Once again I thank Talking Pictures TV for digging out a fine old film and dusting it down so a new generation can see how good the British Film Industry was back in the day.

The pompous dirigible Jean-Luc Godard ,like most French movie directors a man utterly in love with himself,or at least ,the idea of himself ,once said that all you really needed to make a movie were " a girl and a gun"At the opening of this movie it looks as if the makers had taken his dictum literally for that is precisely what we get.The girl is Mary Hutton (Diana Dors) and she pulls a gun from her handbag and shoots a man to death ,one she blames for her lover's suicide .It is an open and shut case -she is placed on trial for murder and sentenced to death by hanging .The majority of the movie takes place in her condemned cell as she waits the outcome of her appeal and relives the doomed affair with lover Jim (Michael Craig) What sets the movie apart from its Hollywood sister "I Want to Live"from a couple of years later is that unlike Susan Hayward in that movie Mary Hutton is quite obviously guilty -her case is not a miscarriage of justice and there is no special pleading in the way the movie sets out to make its anti-capital punishment case .For make no bones about it, this is an abolitionist propaganda piece .Despite her clear and palpable guilt the movie insists that hanging is just plain wrong . J lee Thompson shows an absurdity to things as the wardens set about trying to keep her occupied -they teach her chess ,pass the time in meaningless chit chat and ensure she is healthy enough to be hung in a week or so .The style is not ,as you might expect ,documentary but shows the influence of German Expressionism in its use of extreme close-ups,and oblique camera angles .It deftly suggests the disorientation of someone who may be about to die by order of the state in a premeditated and planned manner Much was made at the time of its similarity to an actual murder case -that of Ruth Ellis,the last woman to be hung in Britain .Both Ellis and Mary in the movie were blondes ,both shot men who had done them wrong .This is coincidence nothing more as the script was written two years prior to the Ellis case and the release of the movie at the time the Ellis case was generating publicity was an accident .Dors is sensational in the role .A flamboyant publicity conscious starlet she declared herself with this movie to be powerhouse actress unafraid to present an appearance devoid of her usual glamour ,letting her dyed hair grow out to show dark at the roots and discarding the revealing gowns of the publicity machine for unflattering prison wear .Its a powerful piece of work and all involved in its making did good work .I am still a pro-hanger but I do admire the honesty and integrity of this movie .its not enjoyable but it is potent

This film proved that Diane Dorrs was a superb serious actress. The obvious comparison to the tragic case of Ruth Ellis 12 months earlier only served to make a good film even better. The whole cast gave their heart and soul to it. A must for people who have not yet viewed it.