The Crimes of Stephen Hawke (1936) Online

This time around Tod Slaughter plays Mr. Stephen Hawke, a limping, kind-hearted bespectacled money lender by day with a beautiful, faithful daughter and the friendship of a local shipping agent and son, and by night he is the "spine-breaker," cruelest of all killers as he kills the rich for their money and treasure in a serial-like fashion. As with any Slaughter film, Slaughter is the main focal point of the film. The film is barely over an hour in length, but it has much to offer in plot. We have Slaughter kill a spoiled rich kid, trick a man into bringing an emerald to his home, kill his friend, and run from the vengeance of his son. Throw in some lecherous guy that wants to force Hawke's daughter into marriage and a hunchback for extra measure. The rest of the actors are adequate(or less than so) but they do not detract at all from the presence of Slaughter on film. His build, his speech, his whole demeanor brings life to each and every scene he is in. Is he a great actor? No, but he sure can grab your attention and keep a "grip" on it. As with many other Slaughter films, George King directs in workman-like style if nothing else. The beginning is set up like a radio play with some "entertainers" doing some kind of real bad vocal act prior to Slaughter coming on talking about his "new" old melodrama. Good old-fashioned fun!

You owe it to yourself to see at least one Tod Slaughter film. His signature movie Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street or the career overview Crimes at the Dark House are two of the best examples, but The Crimes of Stephen Hawke is a worthwhile introduction to his work. Like most of the early Slaughter movies it seems uneasy about the (then) new film medium favouring more common forms of entertainment. His debut film Maria Marten or the Murder in the Red Barn opens with the entire cast being introduced like in a play and Crimes opens like a radio show complete with some hard to watch variety acts (singers Flotsom and Jetsom and a `comic' butcher) before Tod Slaughter is brought on to introduce his latest piece of `Strong Meat'. In the subsequent film/ radio play Slaughter (real name: Norman Carter Slaughter) plays the title role, an outwardly respectable moneylender who is really serial killer `The Spinebreaker' nicknamed for his ability to snap his victim's spines. His long time friend Joshua becomes his latest victim, however upon discovering the guilty party Jossua's son seeks revenge, forcing Hawke and his sidekick, an eyepatch wearing, one legged hunchback to flee, leaving Hawke's adopted daughter in the blackmailing hands of an upper class `lecherous brute'. For a film that barely passes the hour mark this manages to cram allot in, including a fake `talking' corpse, Hawke sent to jail for a year (for stealing a loaf of bread!), the obligatory romance, the honest guy vs the slimey rich guy for Hawke's daughter's hand and even some unexpected sensitivity. Its worth noting that the British censors banned all horror films during the WW2 years, although this falls a few years short of the censor's ban, during that time Slaughter was still making `meldrodramas' with tent pegs pounded into heads, human flesh stuffed into meat pies and lines like `I'll feed your entrails to the pigs' that were far more lurid than any banned Hollywood horror movie. Crimes opens to a sadistic scene where a pompous child is attacked by Slaughter and has his back broken, such scenes like that are not common in British movies of the time. Equally don't look for sub-plots about people being tortured with whips in Ealing comedies. Yet Slaughter's performance is incredible, extremely theatrical and barnstorming par excellence. You can almost hear the boos from the audience as he exits a scene giggling and cackling after `coming to grips' with some unfortunate. Some of the berserk expressions he makes in this film as he breaks spines makes it hard to believe he hadn't completely lost his mind. Call it hammy or over the top, but you'll never forget it. The director George King deserves credit for preserving most of Slaughter's body of work on film (even if he doesn't do it very well). Seemingly more comfortable on stage than on film, Slaughter's movies are little more than filmed plays, with cardboard sets, minimal (if any) camera movement, and unexceptional repertory players. Slaughter is the only reason to watch any of his films, for further proof see King's other Slaughter-less films like The Case of the Frightened Lady (1941) the old magic simply isn't there. Tales from Slaughter's theatre days are both hilarious and the stuff of legend. Actresses not needed would dress as nurses (in case anyone died of a heart attack), while Slaughter reviled in the sort of grand guignol butchery that could never be shown on film and would walk around after the show in blood stained clothes. Whether all these tales are true its hard to know. My relatives remember seeing the guy `live' sometime in the Forties and the man himself definitely left an impression running around the audience covered in blood (actually beetroot juice), waving a big knife and offering to `polish people off'. Now dead for nearly half a century, Slaughter's films are the nearest we'll ever come to experiencing such mad genius first hand. Technically the movies should be unwatchable, but they exert a strange fascination that you'll have to see for yourself, there really hasn't been anything like them before or since.

The opening scene plays out like every parents worst nightmare as Tod - casing a large country house - tempts an inquisitive child to See "a paradoxical paradox" and gleefully breaks his spine. This film was made in the immediate aftermath of Sweeney Todd's surprise success across the Atlantic and shows every hint of being custom made to cash in on Tod's newfound success - he is even given a special introduction in the prologue. An original script - as opposed to a musty Victoria melodrama original - it is very much Sweeney Todd-lite as Hawke cracks lines about "getting to grips" whereas the demon barber made grisly puns on "close shaves" and "polishing off". Tod is allowed to be more sympathetic with this being one of his few films were he fails to lust after a girl less than half his age. He is even allowed to protect his girl's honour as he escapes from prison very cleverly and slays the lecherous Miles Archer who openly lusts after her. Instead, he is a proper Father to his "adopted" daughter who is allowed to shed a few tears over him after his fatal fall at the end. The rest of the cast is the usual thin gruel that surrounds Tod, with the sole exception of destined-for-bigger-things Eric Portman who brings as easy an authority to the role of the hero as he did to Carlos the gypsy in Maria Marten - especially in the scene where he - in pursuit of Hawke - makes himself at home in an inn and plants his feet upon the table. The usual black humour is present - one fellow inmate of Tod's in the cell who notes Hawke's strange attitude to imprisonment says "he must be married". The man was not only the cheap and cheerful British quota quickie answer to Boris and Bela but an entire theatrical sub-genre unto himself. Victorian melodrama never had a more stalwart champion.

Meandering tale of meek money lender Steven Hawke (Slaughter) who moonlights as a callous killer nicknamed "The Spine Breaker" for his bone crushing exploits. When his alter ego is exposed, he's forced to flee London, pursued by a relentless hunter but must make a daring return after hearing news that his daughter has been coerced into marrying a blackmailing prison warden.

Great comical thrills with the inimitable Tod Slaughter delivering his trademark psychopath with pompous relish. Eric Portman is the principal adversary and preferred suitor to the twisted killer's beloved daughter (Taylor), demonstrating the thespian skills for which he became better known throughout the next three decades.

If you're unaccustomed to the Tod Slaughter experience, then this I'd regard to be one of the better samples to gain a taste of the stage-borne flavour with which he interprets his twisted characterisations. The dialogue is poetic, loaded with double-entendres, witty quips and of course, hopelessly clichéd plot. Despite the low budget, it works like a charm, such is Slaughter's unique charisma and presence.

Todd Slaughter is at it again folks,, this time playing a well -mannered banker by day, and being a father to his adopted daughter , but by night folks he becomes...... wait for it..... the Spinebreaker.. very gruesome killer. he kills the rich I guess because he figures that they don't need it. In the Daytime he plays a successful banker, and he also protects his adopted daughter from a potential suitor whom he doesn't really like that much,, I really liked this one because it moved quickly , there was very good dialogue between the characters, and there was some action and mystery,, very good film for the time period.. and Todd Slaughter continues to shine in this horror film.

In Victorian England there lives a kindly moneylender called Stephen Hawke. But underneath his public mask he is an underhand cad. Aided by his hunchback henchmen, he is also the serial killer known as The Spine Breaker. He is so evil he even begins the movie by murdering a child!

This film unusually opens at a BBC radio station, where we are introduced to lead actor Tod Slaughter. We also get a song and, of all things, a comedy butcher act. Slaughter pitches up and speaks briefly about the upcoming movie. I am guessing that this extra material was quite typical of its day where we had cinematic programmes that ran for hours encompassing all manner of things beyond the main feature, such as newsreels, cartoons, etc. Whatever the case, it's a strange way to open the movie now but does offer up a time capsule to an earlier era which is quite interesting.

The film itself is one of several British Victorian melodramas directed by George King, starring Slaughter. I have a soft spot for these movies as their lurid plot-lines and period detail make them more interesting than most B-movies from the time. And, most of all, they have the charismatic Slaughter as the villain in the main role. He really is a fun actor to watch and no one chews up the scenery quite like him it has to be said. This one follows a similar template to all the rest of these films where he is a pillar of the community who secretly is a ghastly criminal. While this one is basically the same, I don't think it is among his best. The plot-line is a little too uncoordinated and doesn't make use of Slaughter as well as it could. Nevertheless, it's one that should still appeal to most of his fans and I still liked it.

"Stephen Hawke is a moneylender whose compassion for his clients is only outshined by his devotion to his lovely daughter. What she and the rest of the public don't know is that Stephen Hawke is leading a double life. At night, he becomes 'The Spine Breaker', a notorious killer with the habit of viciously killing his victims in the most horrible ways imaginable," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis. Silly movie, enriched as much as possible by two under-appreciated British stars - murderous Tod Slaughter (as Stephen Hawke) and Shakespearian Eric Portman (as Matthew Trimble) - both deserving better productions.

**** The Crimes of Stephen Hawke (1936) George King ~ Tod Slaughter, Eric Portman, Marjorie Taylor

Stephen Hawke is a kindly money lender with a nice home and a sweet daughter. He is also 'The Spinebreaker' who steals and murders in old London town. He is eventually stopped but not before melodramatic incidents like more murders, a police official lusting after his daughter, a jail sentence etc. This is a Tod Slaughter film and it's full of those barn storming ingredients that make a tasty cinematic dish, if you like this sort of thing.

Tod Slaughter is a choice and succulent ham of course and is ably supported by a young Eric Portman as the nice young man who loves his daughter and Graham Soutten as his one-legged sidekick. His daughter is played prettily by Marjorie Taylor who appeared in other Slaughter films. It is plainly filmed and all the spine breaking is done off camera but no matter. Seeing his Tod-ness in full villainous mode is all that matters. Nobody did jocular wickedness like him.

The film is strangely bookended by sequences in a contemporary radio studio before going into the Victorian age story which doesn't add anything to the film apart from extra running time. Flotsam and Jetsam in a Tod Slaughter film? Bizarre.

Prior to Snidely Whiplash and Dick Dasterdly, there was Tod Slaughter, the mustache twirling, snickering Englishman who slit throats, shot young ladies whose virginity he stole and buried them in a barn, strangled innocent children, hammered spikes into brains, and here, is a back breaker. At least those cartoon villains didn't get to do that; They were too concerned with tying the heroine to the tracks or stealing state secrets (or a bag of loot) and too insipid to really get away with their crimes. With Tod Slaughter, we know from the moment he appears on the screen that he is the guilty party, and here, he's nasty from the start, breaking the back of a chunky rich kid who demands that he get out of their garden. More enemies follow suit, and in one of the creepiest scenes in a Slaughter film, he's confronted by the alleged ghost of one of his victims, sitting up in the morgue, and scarring the crap out of him. But once his crimes are exposed, he's sent out on the lam, to run through the countryside with the threat of being hunted, only because the person who exposed him is in love with Slaughter's daughter, and doesn't want to see her hurt.

In a Slaughter film, the supporting cast never really matters. These barn stormers focused on Slaughter's nefarious laugh coming either before he kills somebody brutally, as he confronts them with their impending doom, and usually after the crime has been committed. Subtlety is never utilized in a Slaughter film, even if he does appear to genuinely be in love with the young heroine or devoted to a daughter, as he seems to be here. These films all have a formula: Introduce Slaughter as the culprit of a crime spree, have him commit a few of those crimes to give the viewer some chills, expose himself (usually by someone he's trying to frame) and the ultimate pay-off which always follows a mad scene. Slaughter gives his all to these types of roles, hysterically over the top. His films, usually directed by independent producer George King, look cheap, and the prints available aren't usually the best. The creakiness of those prints, though, is what makes him stand the test of time, and if his acting method is long dated, the films are fun to watch for their formula, the shear audacity of their ridiculousness, and cartoon like characterizations. When an actor makes Karloff and Lugosi look subtle, that's enough to warrant their place in the camp hall of fame, and if the films themselves are hardly classics, they are a heck of a lot of fun!

The Crimes of Stephen Hawke (1936)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

London is under a crippling terror as people are being crushed to death by a man known as The Spinebreaker (Tod Slaughter).

THE CRIMES OF STEPHEN HAWKE starts out unlike any other movie that I can remember. It starts off at a radio station where we basically get a radio broadcast for the first seven or eight minutes and then we finally get to the main story. In a rather shocking manor, it starts off with a child being murdered.

This here was the third film Slaughter made following THE MURDER IN THE RED BARN and THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. Britain had pretty much put a ban on American horror movies and these British films had to walk a careful line. With that said, this here makes the murder of a child all the more shocking. There are some rather graphic and violent deaths for the era, although they aren't bloody or gory. The sound effects and screams of the people being crushed are certainly the highlight of the picture.

As was often the case with these films, the main reason people watch them today is for the over-the-top and at times wacky performance by Slaughter. I don't know how to describe him other than saying he was like John Barrymore had he gone insane and had a mental breakdown to the point where he was a raving dog. Once again he's all over the place here and he really makes himself stand apart from the other actors. The other actors are good but they just can't overtake the all-mighty Slaughter.

As far as the film goes, it's certainly a bit better than the star's previous two films and a strong argument could be made that this here is about as entertaining as his horror pictures got.

Tod Slaughter, Britain's first horror star – and still up there with the best – is at his lip-smacking, eye-rolling best in this decent horror offering that plays to his strengths. Directed by George King, who helmed many such pictures, this might not be as well known as SWEENEY TODD but it certainly packs a punch in its story of the 'Spine Breaker', a ruthless murderer essayed by Slaughter, who enjoys breaking the bones of his victims. Seen today, this film is still fairly shocking in places. It opens with the murder of a child, for instance, who we hear getting his spine snapped! From then on, there's a ton of plot packed into a barely hour-long running time. Slaughter sets himself up in a dual role as usual, with his innuendo-laden moneylender and sinister night-stalking killer. Watch out for the script that offers great lines for the actor, like "I'll get to grips with you soon enough" and "I'll be right behind you".

Elsewhere there's a one-legged one-eyed hunchback hopping around for some menace, a ménage a trois between Slaughter's daughter, her lover and a creepy/lecherous aristocrat, and a sub-plot that sees our antagonist locked up in jail for nicking bread! Villains are whipped with cat-o-nine-tails, corpses raise beneath their death sheets, and there's a barnstorming climax that sees Slaughter being pursued to the rooftops! The other actors don't really get much of a look in, to be honest; this is Slaughter's film alone, and he makes a real ham of it. You don't see classic overacting like this in modern cinema! He's a real delight and this is one of his most entertaining flicks. As an added bonus, the film seems better for what precedes it: an excruciating comic-radio-duo, Flotsam and Jetsam, who sing for an age, and then the appearance of the infamous 'cats meat' man, a humorous butcher. Sure, it's dated, sure, it's cheap, but it sure is a lot of fun.

I'll admit it - I quickly became a Tod Slaughter fan. I *think* I first saw him as a kid but I can't really recall - I know about 3 years ago I started becoming very familiar with him and quickly became a fan. Like most people, I watch Tod Slaughter films for Tod Slaughter's performances. He's quite good - very theatrical and lively on film so he makes an otherwise mediocre film entertaining.

Now this film is more than just Tod Slaughter being an entertaining, it's actually a pretty good story on top of it. One of Slaughter's best films.

I love the atmosphere in this one. It's very much of a Victorian Gothic film - it's no masterpiece but it's one that really enjoyed watching.

9/10

I actually don't like this film as much as a score of "7" would seem to indicate, but Tod Slaughter is such a gleefully malevolent presence in the film that it's worth watching just to see him camp it up.

I'm not as much a film history buff as some of the distinguished commentators here, but it's obvious that this movie was made when film hadn't really come up with its own language yet, since the opening sequence is a live presentation of a radio show (!) featuring "Flotsam and Jetsam". They're reasonably clever and amusing, but the film basically stands stock still for at least 5 minutes while they go on and on with a satirical musical take on various topics of the day (kind of like a 1930's British Mark Russell).

Finally the story proper starts with Tod Slaughter himself taking the microphone and narrating a tale in which he (as "Steven Hawke") plays a demented serial killers who lends people money by day and breaks their spines at night, all to furnish a nest egg for his beloved daughter.

The plot itself is a drunken walk, a penny dreadful melodrama, with a cast of stock actors and actresses delivering their lines as best they can while Slaughter does his bit. And I'll given him this - the guy never lets up. He's "on" every instant he's in front of the camera, and it's obvious he's enjoying himself. Meanwhile, the hero (who apparently went on to greater things) woos the bad guy's daughter so they can get into a big plastic hassle about their thwarted love when he discovers that Hawke/Slaughter killed his father.

I have to admit - I did like the ending, where Hawke, perched on a balcony, keeps half a dozen men at bay, ranting and raving and hurling bricks at anyone who dares come through the balcony door, until he slips on the edge and falls to his (eventual) death.

You wouldn't bother finishing this movie if weren't for Slaughter's performance - but since he's in it, you'll probably finish it.

Tod Slaughter was as different as could be from his American counter parts Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. He was part of the British tradition of barn storming stage melodramas that toured the provinces in the gas light era. The audience would boo and hiss the villain, sigh over the heroine and cheer the hero. In Sydney, Australia, in the 1960s and 70s theatre restaurants came into fashion and Neutral Bay Music Hall changed it's program every few months. I remember seeing "The Springheeled Terror of Putney Green" (which Slaughter also made into a film), "Fleet Footed Jack" and "Her First False Step" - they were all great fun. Tod Slaughter was straight out of that gas light tradition, in fact the beginning of "The Crimes of Stephen Hawke" is at pains to point out that the plays the thing and it's all make believe.

For the first ten minutes it is like a radio program with an odd novelty act "Flotsam and Jetsam" who seem to look at the daily papers for inspiration for their satirical songs. Then the announcer introduces Slaughter as having "murdered thousands of people and been hanged thousands of times" then Slaughter continues "yes and I'm still alive to tell the tale"!!! He then proceeds to tell listeners about his strangest role - Stephen Hawke, who is kindly yet a fiend. Within minutes "kindly" Stephen Hawke has left his trademark on a small boy who dared to order him from the gardens - "my garden isn't for people like you" the snotty nose brat tells him. Yes, Stephen Hawke is the "Spine Breaker", although to everyone in the village he is a kindly money lender who gives generously to his friends. Slaughter may not have been able to match his Hollywood co-horts as far as production values, but in evilness he was second to none. The thought of killing a child in the first few minutes would have been unthinkable to Karloff or Lugosi.

His one joy in life is his ward, Julia, and it is at her party that the "Spinebreaker" strikes again. Only Nathanial, Hawkes down trodden clerk knows his real identity and also that his generous reputation hides a mean and cowardly nature - he gleefully turns a widow and six children out onto the street, all for owing 10 pounds!!! Suspicion now starts to fall on Hawkes, especially as people begin to notice his extremely strong hands and when his good friend, Mr. Trimble, dies, his son Matthew finally gets to the bottom of the hunt for the killer, who has escaped from prison by changing identities with a poor man who has just stolen a loaf of bread!!!

Surprising to see that Eric Portman, such a distinguished actor of the 1940s, specialising in introspective, urbane villains, got his start playing the young hero in Tod Slaughter movies, this one and "Maria Marten". This definitely isn't my favourite Tod Slaughter movie, for anyone wanting an introduction I would recommend "The Face at the Window" (1939).

By spine, I meant suspense. You know, whom the killer in the first scene and know what's playing out isn't for real. It wasn't scary nor much of a thriller. It's disappointing. It's just didn't stand out, and based on how many bother to watch the movie, it's seem that this movie is nearly forgotten due to that reason. The film isn't even television formatted as the title word card doesn't even fit on the screen. There seems to be a lot of wide shots in the movie that doesn't show everything when watching the DVD on TV. The movie opens at a BBC radio studio, where a variety program is being broadcast. After the singing duo of Flotsam and Jetsom and a comic butcher perform, Tod Slaughter appears as himself to perform a radio play about Stephen Hawkes. By the opening, you can see what is wrong with the film. Rather than building suspense by having the events play out. The movie is telling us that the actor is just acting, and it's just a play. What kind of horror movie starts its movie with upbeat music and a comedy act? Also the movie doesn't go back to the radio studio, that's the last we heard from them. So what was the point that scene? It waste time. Anyways, we are taking back to a period piece set type of a movie where Hawkes like all serial killers, appears to others, a model citizen. A money-lender, he is compassionate and caring toward his clients. In a sick incest way, he's also deeply extremely attentive to his lovely daughter, Julia (Marjorie Taylor). On his free time, he become a killer known as the 'Spine Breaker' who viciously kills his victims in a gory and painful manner for his ability to snap his victim's spines. It was pretty shocking to see a child get killed in this 1936 film by Stephen. It wasn't until WWII that the board of censors would enforced codes for horror movies and banned them if they were too violence. This film manage to escape those codes. Like every horror movie at the time, he is aided by his assistant, a strange hunchback, surprising not name Igor. It's seems like every other scene is him driving Stephen Hawkes place to place to hide from the law and Matthew Trimble (Eric Portman) who vows to hunt him down. Stephen rarely looks scary due to his cowardly ways. He's always on the run in this movie. Once in a while, Todd Slaughter acts scary or creepy by hamming or cheesy sinister laughs, but it felt over the top theatricals from his theater performing days when he was playing Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Murder in the Red Barn, or Crimes at the Dark House. It didn't help the movie that it didn't have much of any music to it. There is long scenes that would have been deeply improve with haunting music. The opening and the ending are the only ones I can remember having such music. It's truly is hard to watch. Slaughter is the only reason to watch any of his films, but I will warn you. It's nearly unwatchable.

This is one very scary movie. It has great acting. It also has a great story line. It also has great special effects. It is a great horror movie. It is true classic. I can not believe people are give it 5 out 10. It is a not a 5 out of 10. It is a 9 out of 10.