The Ticket of Leave Man

thoroughly enjoyed this Todd Slaughter vehicle,, to be honest I never heard of him before till this movie,, he's very funny, entertaining, and just a joy to watch on the screen as the "Tiger".. a con man goes around London, killing people,, then decides it's time to pull the ultimate con,, he sets up a charity,,, called ticket of leave man,, a charity to help those who have just gotten out of jail,, and need a break,, i.e. a job... our main character is very nieve, and get's taken in by the nefarious tiger... he meets a beautiful young woman he intends to marry, but now their future is in jeopardly as he has lost faith in being an honest man,, and is contemplating a life of crime, to better his financial situation, and take care of his girl...

You've got to love Tod Slaughter. This hammy English actor has more or less been forgotten nowadays. He seems to be no more than a footnote of cinematic history. Yet I think this is a serious injustice, as every Tod Slaughter vehicle I have seen has never been anything less than entertaining. He specialized in playing cads in a series of Victorian melodramas. There weren't that many of them and Slaughter's cinematic career doesn't encompass all that many screen outings. He seemed to end up going back to the stage. His acting certainly would not have been out of place in the theatre, it's so hammy and over-the-top. But the leering villains he played were tremendously memorable, and Slaughter never seems to ever let you down. In this one, like all of them, he plays a middle-aged villain who lusts after a much younger woman, and nefariously sets a plan in motion where her fiancée is incarcerated, leaving Tod with seemingly easy access to the girl. This plot-line is extremely typical for his films. His character is a killer called the Tiger, who goes around London murdering people. He is aided by a stereotypical crooked Jewish moneylender. The innocent fellow they put in prison is the ticket of leave man of the title, i.e. a chap just out of jail looking for a break. Naturally, evil Tod has to deal with this chap when he comes back into society.

This is not the best Slaughter production. And like most of the others it's certainly no classic. But Tod is a very fun guy to watch and these melodramas he appeared in back in the 30's are still enjoyable to watch, unlike many other similar cheap productions from the time. This one is certainly formulaic, but it's acceptable when it's the unusual and unique attractions of Tod Slaughter that is the main draw.

The oh so hammy Tod Slaughter is good as usual in this mediocre crime thriller - it's more of a crime drama than a thriller. The film is a bit dry to me - it's missing something... darker elements. The film seems to "bright" or a bit "cheery" for a crime thriller. If it was meant to be comedy then this film would be perfect for that but the film is not a comedy. It doesn't have the elements of twisted darkness that one would expect from a Tod Slaughter film.

The movie is exactly what the description says: an innocent man is falsely accused of counterfeiting, put in prison and must prove he is innocent. "The Tiger" is actually responsible for the murders.

It's not a horrible film - but it's not all that great. I'll have to rate this one somewhere in the middle ground.

4.5/10

I have never heard of the phrase 'Ticket of Leave', but I can safely assume from watching the story that it is referring to a person who is paroled out of prison.

The basic idea behind "The Ticket of Leave Man" is decent and the story should have been a lot better. After all, it does involve an evil criminal who not only steals but garrotes his victims! And, the guy later frames an innocent man only because he hopes to one day use him in his gang--but first he needs to break the man! However, the story itself is quite poor--mostly because of some horrible over-acting by Tod Slaughter who plays the evil killer. Subtle his performance isn't--and he even snickers a bit like Snidely Whiplash! Additionally, a few of the other performances are less than stellar. Because of the high cheese factor, it's really hard to recommend the film--unless you are making up a list of movies that SHOULD have been better or ones that featured very hammy performances.

On the positive aspect of the film, there is a villain who thinks on his feet in addition to planning his way to the financial top. There's something to be said about society's notion of 'good character' and credit as well as a quickly wrapped up moral at the end.

Dialogue was laborious both in detail and cliché. Motivations and execution are certainly questionable. Maybe some of this style of theatre got lost in translation from stage to film. All characters were pretty much static and stereotypical. I'm not sure who the target audience for the film would be. Maybe a young couple afraid of the rich and/or powerful?