Ever watch a mystery movie and spot the murderer right away? Well, if you watch "The Ringer" you should spot the murderer, oh, about half a minute after the opening credits. It promises to be a better-than-average mystery with Herbert Lom leading the cast, but almost immediately Donald Wolfit dominates the picture as a forensic expert from out of town - namely, somewhere in Scotland. Every scene he is in fixes on him sooner or later, and it soon becomes very obvious ...
The movie is static and takes place mostly in Lom's office. He is an enemy of 'The Ringer', a notorious criminal, and it is discovered that The Ringer is in the vicinity to settle a score with lawyer Lom. Then the picture slogs along to its inevitable conclusion. You will have it figured out way ahead of time, but, of course, Scotland Yard does not.
The saving grace with the print I saw (Columbus,O. Cinevent) was that it had 2 endings, one for British audiences and one for us in America, and they were run one after the other at the end. I thought that was a novel twist but it could not save a movie that was both tedious and predictable.
The movie is static and takes place mostly in Lom's office. He is an enemy of 'The Ringer', a notorious criminal, and it is discovered that The Ringer is in the vicinity to settle a score with lawyer Lom. Then the picture slogs along to its inevitable conclusion. You will have it figured out way ahead of time, but, of course, Scotland Yard does not.
The saving grace with the print I saw (Columbus,O. Cinevent) was that it had 2 endings, one for British audiences and one for us in America, and they were run one after the other at the end. I thought that was a novel twist but it could not save a movie that was both tedious and predictable.