The Ticket of Leave Man

Ticket of Leave Man, The (1937)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A serial killer known as The Tiger (Tod Slaughter) falls for a beautiful blonde so he frames her boyfriend sending him to prison in hopes that he'll get the girl. When the boyfriends gets out of prison The Tiger must try a new method to get the girl. I believe this is the sixth or seventh Slaughter film I've seen and they all feature the same plot of him trying to win a girl by framing their boyfriends. Slaughter has become a cult item the past several years and if you can tolerate him he's not too bad but non-fans will probably scratch their eyes out. He's as over the top as ever here but this nuttiness keeps the film moving. The supporting cast members are all dry and dull as is the creaky direction. The ending is downright stupid but it fits in with the campy nature.

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.

This is one of the scariest movies I have seen. If you want to see a really good horror movie see this movie. It has a great story line. It also has great acting. If it does not scary you know movie will. This is better then A Nightmare on elm street.

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?

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...