Watch The Last Page For Free

Wow! Such a good movie.

People are voting emotionally.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

A better than average drama written by Frederick Knott, the author of "Dial M for Murder" and "Wait Until Dark", this shows Terence Fisher expertly handling a story of crime, lust and death during his efficient early phase working for Hammer Films, five years before the big success of "The Curse of Frankenstein". Although the main character is John Harman, the mature manager of a London bookstore (played by Irish actor George Brent), two young actors play more appealing characters who are key components of the plot and feature: Diana Dors and Peter Reynolds. A ravishing blonde beauty at 20, Dors had had a dozen of minor screen roles before being introduced in this production as Ruby Bruce, a sexy worker who turns everything around her upside down after she gets mixed up with Jeff Hart, a seductive ex-con played by Reynolds. Under Jeff's influence Ruby blackmails Harman, next a couple of corpses complicate the proceedings, soon Harman is accused of murder and then his secretary (American actress Marguerite Chapman) helps to solve the mystery, putting her life in danger. Peter Reynolds is fine, but he does not have much to do as the villain with sinister charm. It is Diana Dors who has more room for creating a real character. She was a very good actress, and although comparisons were often made with Marilyn Monroe, on the acting level she surpassed her American colleague: here she convincingly mixes naive wickedness with vulnerability, making the film not only the account of Harman's story but the drama of a confused working girl as well.

A lot of people seem to have noticed that there's not much logic gone in to this film . Before we start dishing out awards and starting up a Nobel prize for self congratulations let's be entirely honest in saying it's impossible not to notice the constant and flawed thinking that seems to have gone in to almost every scene . My own personal complaint with MAN BAIT from the outset is that two of the main characters are American living in London in the early 1950s . Let's think about this . American won the war, became a superpower overnight and was winning the peace in spectacular fashion while Britain also won the war and lost the peace along with the empire so badly that the standard of living at this time wasn't much better than in the defeated axis powers . Shocking to think that when this film was produced petrol rationing had just ended and certain foodstuffs were subject to rationing in Britain and yet a couple of Americans are quite happy to live in a starving , rain soaked archipelago where fridges and car ownership would be fairly unknown but power cuts would be common . You can understand the producers wanting to bring in a couple of American actors because it makes American distribution of the film more attractive . You can't help asking would it not have been better if the production team had concentrated on telling a more credible story This is a pity because you can easily see the potential that MAN BAIT had in wanting to be something of a British noir classic . In fact just reading the plot summary on this page finding himself attracted to a pretty blonde clerk that leads to a plot of blackmail and murder so the bare bones of a good involving thriller are there . However it's the way the story unfolds that is a serious problem and undermines most of the potential . People don't do anything in a logical manner and they don't react to situations that you would recognise as being realistic which means the only thing you'll remember from this film is that it starred Diana Dors when she was a starlet of British cinema and that many of the people behind the scenes went on to make Hammer studios a successful horror film franchise

...First thing he does is go to a bookstore. He tries to steal a book. That is how logical this movie is throughout. When we see shelves of books at a time, later, the books seem to be attached to each other. They're like room decorations some people buy in bulk.The proprietor of this bookstore is, of all people, George Brent. He had a long career. Though this is a noir of sorts and I therefore can't give it a bad rating, let's just say this is hardly a career highlight for him.Marguerite Chapman is attractive and convincing as his employee. She's stylish and pretty and comes off as nice.This is an early Diana Dors film. She's decent in it. She gets pulled into some very bad behavior. But she's not a truly terrible character. She's chronically late to work and weak willed.This isn't a memorable or distinguished film. But it isn't terrible, either. Nor does it hold to any formula. It's mediocre in a unique way.

I'm a big Terence Fisher fan, so as a completist, I wanted to see this one. But it's only a fair film. Fisher was a few years away from making his classic CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and HORROR OF Dracula, but he was still capable of some fine work in the early 50's (THE FOUR-SIDED TRIANGLE, for example). But this one is pretty much by-the-numbers. Even leading man George Brent looks bored throughout. He runs a bookstore where employee Marguerite Chapman is in love with him. And good-looking Diana Dors is the 'bad' employee -- because she's late a few times. Brent has an invalid wife who needs an operation abroad. He cashes in an insurance policy to pay for the operation. Meanwhile, Dors has caught weaselly Peter Reynolds trying to steal a book but doesn't turn him in. They strike up a relationship. He gets her to try to blackmail Brent after a late night when he kissed her briefly (tho' it looks more like she kissed him). He won't pay, so Reynolds has Dors write a letter to the invalid wife. She dies after reading the letter (in one of a string of incredible plot coincidences). Reynolds makes Dors harass the grieving Brent again for the money. He angrily gives her all the insurance money. Then Reynolds sneaks into the bookstore and kills Dors, taking the dough, but leaving the body so that Brent will be blamed. Brent's soon on the run and Chapman is trying to save him. It all works out in a fiery climax. And it's all competently done, but the script doesn't make a lot of sense. Dors, however, gives a fine, restrained performance and is probably the best thing in it. Worth noting that later Hammer Producer/Director/Exec Michael Carreras is here credited with Casting. And Hammer Writer Extraordinaire Jimmy Sangster is credited as Assistant Director. Really this is just for Hammer and Fisher fans like myself. Or Diana Dors fans, who will be pleased with her work here.