What makes it different from others?

Just perfect...

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

A great deal seems to happen in a relatively short time in this entertaining murder mystery and it's this pace that plays such a significant part in making "The Limping Man" so enjoyable to watch. Apart from murder, its story also involves blackmail, smuggling and a serious case of mistaken identity, as well as a series of surprising plot developments that all add to the intrigue that deepens consistently as the murder investigation progresses.American ex-serviceman Frank Prior (Lloyd Bridges) returns to London to meet up with the girlfriend that he left behind six years earlier. As he and the other passengers disembark from their plane and walk towards the airport terminal, he turns and asks the man behind him for a light, but when his fellow passenger obliges, he's immediately shot dead by a bullet from a sniper's rifle. Frank's disappointed when his girlfriend Pauline French (Moira Lister) isn't at the airport to meet him and then, because of the circumstances of the murder, has to be interviewed by a couple of Scotland Yard detectives. During his conversation with Inspector Braddock (Alan Wheatley) and Detective Cameron (Leslie Phillips), Frank learns that the dead man's papers indicated that he was Kendall Brown.When Frank eventually meets up with Pauline, she's thrilled to see him and explains why she wasn't at the airport when he arrived. He sees from her many trophies that she's an accomplished marks-woman and also learns that she likes fast cars and boats. A photograph that the police found on Kendall Brown's body leads them to his apartment and a lady in the picture turns out to be Pauline. Another photograph that they find in Brown's apartment leads them to his ex-wife, Helene Castle (Helene Cordet) who works as a singing assistant in a magic show. It transpires that Brown was a criminal and a womaniser and that Pauline had been one of his conquests.Pauline becomes the main murder suspect but Frank discovers that she's also got other troubles because she'd previously been involved in Brown's smuggling activities and is also being blackmailed because of some incriminating letters that she'd written. Clearly, when he decided that he wanted to reunite with his wartime sweetheart, Frank could never have imagined that it would lead him into such a web of intrigue.There's a lot to enjoy in "The Limping Man" as it's very competently directed by blacklisted director Cy Enfield (who wasn't able to be credited for his work), the acting performances are consistently good and there are interesting cameo appearances by a very young-looking Lionel Blair and the well-known illusionist, Robert Harbin. It's just a shame that it all ends with a conclusion that's so sudden, incongruous and utterly disappointing. If it hadn't been for this, the movie would definitely have merited a higher rating.

***SPOILERS*** Nobody knew at the time when the film "The Limping Man" came limping into the theaters in late 1953 what an impact it would have on it's audiences who were still around, if they didn't walk out earlier, for the films last few shocking and totally unexpected moments. It started out as your usual crime assassination flick with returning US WWII veteran Frank Prior, Llyod Bridges, getting off a plane from NY in London to rekindle an affair he had with his British girlfriend Pauline French, Moria Listen, six years ago. That soon lead to one of the plane passengers getting gunned down by an unseen sniper as Frank was about to give him a light! From then on Frank was hounded by Scotland Yard's Insp. Braddock, Alan Wheatley, and his assistant the skirt chasing Det. Cameron, Leslie Phillips, for the entire length of the movie. As for Pauline she seemed to have had some romantic relationship with the murdered man revealed to be Kendal Brown, Bruce Beebe, who was involved in smuggling contraband into the country.It soon turns out that whoever murdered Kendal Brown had a noticeable limp, from the footprints found at the scene, and it was that limp or limper whom both the police Scotland Yard as well as Frank were out looking for to find Browns killer. As for Pauline she knew the truth all along about Brown and his illegal activities and kept her mouth shut so she won't be implicated in them. There's also the late Kendal Brown's estranged wife showgirl and magician aid Helene Castle, Helene Cordet, who identified his body at the London City morgue who didn't seem to show any emotion at all in knowing that he's gone and now not paying her rent or clothing bills!***SPOILERS*** The movie leads up to a number of unexpected surprises in that we as well as Frank & Palline find out that Brown wasn't killed at all but faked his death by using some unknowing stooge, in not realizing what's to happen to him,to replace him and end up getting murdered! As for the now live Brown he want's his former lover Pauline to pay him off, with 2,000 pounds sterling, and slip him out of the country to France in her motorboat. That or else he'll release a number of revealing and incriminating letters that she sent him not just about her romance but criminal activities she had with him. The film ends with such a confusing climax that you have to re-watch it to get the massage that it's trying to tell you. That's if you ever saw the movie "The Wizard Oz" you'll quickly realize what it is!

When in the middle of this film, Lloyd Bridges asks about a certain clue, "What do you make of it?", you may, like me, expect the flamboyant Johnny from "Airplane!" to jump in and say, "A hat, a broach, a pterodactyl!". Yes, like Peter Graves, Robert Stack and Leslie Nielsen, the Bridges patriarch started off in dramatic roles, yet found his niche in spoofing his own image through comedy. It is difficult to separated him from these roles even though he originally played either heavies or action heroes before changing his image by stating, "Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue!" Here, he's all serious, an American visiting England who was at the airport when a sniper shot a mystery man who turns out to be the other man in a triangle with Bridges' estranged girlfriend (Moira Lister). Bridges learns the truth and details about his girlfriend's secret life that leads him into all sorts of intrigue.American stars in British film noir and thrillers added a smooth touch to the stiff upper lip pretense of the English in all sorts of parts, good and evil, and the results could be very mixed at times. The Hammer Noir was decidedly mixed, and this ranks among them as an acceptable, if unremarkable, thriller with moments of tension and other sequences sometimes dull and slowly paced. Bridges stands out like a sore thumb among the rest of the cast, and if it wasn't for some crafty dark photography, this might well have fallen below the mark.So try to put aside your desire to quote him from "Airplane!" or the "Hot Shots" movies and instead, take a trip into the dives of London, Music Halls and pups and let Bridges remind you of what a serious actor he used to be before a diving suit and the Zucker Brothers changed his image forever.

This is a kind of "B" picture but it has a good cast and the story is intriguing enough. It stars Lloyd Bridges and Moira Lister, two good actors. An assassination happens as Frank Prior (Bridges) gets off a plane in London, where he is to see Pauline French (Lister) for the first time in six years, since the war. The person who was assassinated, Kendall Brown, is known to Pauline French and Scotland Yard is on the case. Frank tries to help French in trying to find out how she in involved. The Limping Man of the title is a shadowy figure, which is why I'm calling this a noir film. Its pretty good, but the ending, which I won't divulge, is strange. Its fun to watch up till then and, at 75 minutes, goes by quickly. Obviously not perfect, its good Saturday afternoon watching.