This is one of the Danziger quickie made for bottom of the bill for United Artists. It is very talky and dreadfully dull. Many dramatic elements are thrown in including possessive mother and the suicide of another patient,but none of this helps as the film moves along at a funereal pace.
4 Reviews
Well below standard!
JohnHowardReid6 November 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Dermot Walsh (Paul Dixon), Wendy Williams (Ann Dixon), Ian Fleming (Dr Marshall), Anton Rodgers (Tomson), Grace Arnold (Mrs Dixon), Ann Sears (Nurse Phillips), George Roderick (Manotti), Rolf Harris (Bart), Geoffrey Hibbert (Henry), Garard Green (Forbes), Hal Osmond, Diana Daneman, Hazel Wright, Victor Baring, Malcolm Ranson, Russell Cardon.
Director: MAX VARNEL. Screenplay not credited, presumably the work of an American blacklisted writer. My guess/hunch: Ben Barzman. Story: Brian Clemens, Eldon Howard. Photography: Jimmy Wilson. Film editor: Lee Doig. Art director: Malcolm Arnold. Sound supervisor: John Smith. Sound recording: W. A. Howell. Producers: Edward J. Danziger, Harry Lee Danziger. A production of The Danzigers. Not copyrighted or theatrically released in the U.S.A. Released in the U.K. through United Artists: 14 June 1959. 5,882 feet. 65 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Story about a wife's patient rehabilitation of her husband who was crippled in a car racing accident.
VIEWERS' GUIDE: Adults.
COMMENT: There is doubtless some promising dramatic material in the rehabilitation of people who are crippled in car smashes or by some other means, but this cheap and nasty quota quickie does not provide such material.
The film actually moves at an incredibly dreary pace via long dialogue scenes, most of them dominated by that garrulous and totally uninteresting old actor, Ian Fleming.
The plot content of the script is uncommonly small, and what there is can only be described as a contrived melodrama that is totally unconvincing.
Even judged by his usual extremely humble standards, Max Varnel's direction is both dull and clumsy.
The subject-matter lends itself to the wholesale use of stock footage, all of which is very ineptly integrated into the film itself.
Needless to say, the photography is flat and production values sub- standard.
Director: MAX VARNEL. Screenplay not credited, presumably the work of an American blacklisted writer. My guess/hunch: Ben Barzman. Story: Brian Clemens, Eldon Howard. Photography: Jimmy Wilson. Film editor: Lee Doig. Art director: Malcolm Arnold. Sound supervisor: John Smith. Sound recording: W. A. Howell. Producers: Edward J. Danziger, Harry Lee Danziger. A production of The Danzigers. Not copyrighted or theatrically released in the U.S.A. Released in the U.K. through United Artists: 14 June 1959. 5,882 feet. 65 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Story about a wife's patient rehabilitation of her husband who was crippled in a car racing accident.
VIEWERS' GUIDE: Adults.
COMMENT: There is doubtless some promising dramatic material in the rehabilitation of people who are crippled in car smashes or by some other means, but this cheap and nasty quota quickie does not provide such material.
The film actually moves at an incredibly dreary pace via long dialogue scenes, most of them dominated by that garrulous and totally uninteresting old actor, Ian Fleming.
The plot content of the script is uncommonly small, and what there is can only be described as a contrived melodrama that is totally unconvincing.
Even judged by his usual extremely humble standards, Max Varnel's direction is both dull and clumsy.
The subject-matter lends itself to the wholesale use of stock footage, all of which is very ineptly integrated into the film itself.
Needless to say, the photography is flat and production values sub- standard.
Look Out He's A Cripple!
sol-kay1 June 2006
**SPOILERS** Surviving a near-fatal car crash on the racetrack champion race-car driver Paul Dixon's, Dermot Walsh, spine is so badly damaged that he's left crippled from the waist down. A proud man who at the age of 35 was in the best of health is now reduced to a helpless cripple unable to care for. Paul is now looked after by his very possessive mother Mrs. Dixon, Grace Arnold, and tortured and caring wife Ann, Wendy Williams. Ann had earlier left him before his accident. She wasn't able to stand worrying anymore about Paul getting killed every time he went on the race track.
At the rehabilitation center where Paul is recovering and getting therapy Ann who's heart-sick over leaving Paul now desperately wan't to come back to him. Paul ignore and refuses to see Ann because he's is too hurt and embarrassed to have her see him as half a person then what who he was before Ann left him.
Getting the prognosis from Dr.Marshall, Ian Flemings, both Ann and Paul's mother Mrs. Dixon are told that Paul will never walk again but Paul's mother refuses to believe it. She spends almost all her life savings ,almost bankrupting her, in order to have Paul cured. Paul at first not knowing what to do with himself get's encouragement from another patient at the center Tommy, Anton Rodgers, a former dancer. Tommy's now trying to get back in the theater despite his crippled right leg that already required 19 operations. Tommy together with Ann, whom Paul finally got up enough courage to see and talk to, are the only persons who give him a sense of pride and will to live. Paul's mother even though she means well is only making Paul more depressed and helpless by treating him as if he'll never be able to take care of himself or be a man again. By her being so over-protective and foolishly optimistic she's making Paul an emotional, as well as an already physical, cripple.
Trying to cheer Paul up Ann take's him to the local zoo one afternoon where after really enjoying himself,for once. Getting involved with theses two young boys feeding the animals, who were getting dangerously close to the lions cage, Paul's pushed off his wheel chair by the boys. This as he tried to talk some sense into them. Everything that Paul tried to forget about his injury came back to him making him more depressed then ever as Ann yelled at the two kids, as they knocked him to the ground, "look out he's a Cripple".
Back at the center Tommy finally got called for an audition back in London for a part in a musical. That put Pal back on the road to recovery giving him hope that , like Tommy, he can also become a full and productive citizen again and not have to be cared for the rest of him life. It's when when Tommy came back completely destroyed because he wasn't even asked to preformed and told he's not needed by the theater director the poor and depressed man went into his room and hung himself.
The news of Tommy's suicide hit Paul so hard that he went both into shock and into an immediate and total self-induced catatonic state. The emotional breakdown that Paul was hit with looked like, just as from his crippling accident, he'll never recover. Ann trying to get Paul back to normal realizes that he'll need to be shown that he's not the worthless cripple that he keeps feeling that he is. Ann does what she knows has to be done, to get him out of that depressive and numbing state of mind. At the end of the film Ann find what Paul so desperately needed, to bring him back to not feel so sorry for himself and stop talking to anyone, a jolting shock to his system. That's what eventually shocked Paul back to being what he once was and what he felt that he'll never be, involved in cars and in racing them, again.
At the rehabilitation center where Paul is recovering and getting therapy Ann who's heart-sick over leaving Paul now desperately wan't to come back to him. Paul ignore and refuses to see Ann because he's is too hurt and embarrassed to have her see him as half a person then what who he was before Ann left him.
Getting the prognosis from Dr.Marshall, Ian Flemings, both Ann and Paul's mother Mrs. Dixon are told that Paul will never walk again but Paul's mother refuses to believe it. She spends almost all her life savings ,almost bankrupting her, in order to have Paul cured. Paul at first not knowing what to do with himself get's encouragement from another patient at the center Tommy, Anton Rodgers, a former dancer. Tommy's now trying to get back in the theater despite his crippled right leg that already required 19 operations. Tommy together with Ann, whom Paul finally got up enough courage to see and talk to, are the only persons who give him a sense of pride and will to live. Paul's mother even though she means well is only making Paul more depressed and helpless by treating him as if he'll never be able to take care of himself or be a man again. By her being so over-protective and foolishly optimistic she's making Paul an emotional, as well as an already physical, cripple.
Trying to cheer Paul up Ann take's him to the local zoo one afternoon where after really enjoying himself,for once. Getting involved with theses two young boys feeding the animals, who were getting dangerously close to the lions cage, Paul's pushed off his wheel chair by the boys. This as he tried to talk some sense into them. Everything that Paul tried to forget about his injury came back to him making him more depressed then ever as Ann yelled at the two kids, as they knocked him to the ground, "look out he's a Cripple".
Back at the center Tommy finally got called for an audition back in London for a part in a musical. That put Pal back on the road to recovery giving him hope that , like Tommy, he can also become a full and productive citizen again and not have to be cared for the rest of him life. It's when when Tommy came back completely destroyed because he wasn't even asked to preformed and told he's not needed by the theater director the poor and depressed man went into his room and hung himself.
The news of Tommy's suicide hit Paul so hard that he went both into shock and into an immediate and total self-induced catatonic state. The emotional breakdown that Paul was hit with looked like, just as from his crippling accident, he'll never recover. Ann trying to get Paul back to normal realizes that he'll need to be shown that he's not the worthless cripple that he keeps feeling that he is. Ann does what she knows has to be done, to get him out of that depressive and numbing state of mind. At the end of the film Ann find what Paul so desperately needed, to bring him back to not feel so sorry for himself and stop talking to anyone, a jolting shock to his system. That's what eventually shocked Paul back to being what he once was and what he felt that he'll never be, involved in cars and in racing them, again.
The accident
jotix10011 August 2012
Warning: Spoilers
A sports race driver, Paul Dixon, suffers a horrible accident at the beginning of the story. Taken to a rehab hospital, he is given no hope of ever walking again. He has become paralyzed from his waist down. In the process, Paul, like some people afflicted with an incurable situation, begins to want to be left alone. Not even his wife, Ann, is allowed to visit him. His physician, Dr. Marshall, realizing the crisis Paul is facing, decides to let Ann, come visit.
Ann must face reality as bringing Paul home presents a new reality. Paul's mother, a rich woman, wants to take him to other specialists to see if something can be done. Ann, in the meanwhile must find a job if she wants to be able to afford the cost of being the head of the house now. Taking Paul for walks to distract him, have the opposite effect, especially when Paul falls from his wheelchair during a visit to London's Zoo.
At the hospital Paul becomes acquainted with Tomson, a former dancer who had suffered an accident and has a bad leg. Tomson wants to go back to the stage, doing what he did before his present condition. Paul encourages him to audition, but Tomson never makes it because the people in charge of casting would not consider a dancer with a handicap. Eventually, going back to the racing arena does a lot of good to Paul, as he begins thinking of ways to stay in the area where he had achieved fame.
This English production, which we had never seen, showed up on a classic channel recently. Directed by Max Varnel, the film packs a lot in its short running time. Ian Fleming, not the writer, is seen as Paul. Wendy Williams convinces as Ann Dixon. Anton Rodgers appears as Tomson, the tragic figure of a man who does not accept his own condition.
Ann must face reality as bringing Paul home presents a new reality. Paul's mother, a rich woman, wants to take him to other specialists to see if something can be done. Ann, in the meanwhile must find a job if she wants to be able to afford the cost of being the head of the house now. Taking Paul for walks to distract him, have the opposite effect, especially when Paul falls from his wheelchair during a visit to London's Zoo.
At the hospital Paul becomes acquainted with Tomson, a former dancer who had suffered an accident and has a bad leg. Tomson wants to go back to the stage, doing what he did before his present condition. Paul encourages him to audition, but Tomson never makes it because the people in charge of casting would not consider a dancer with a handicap. Eventually, going back to the racing arena does a lot of good to Paul, as he begins thinking of ways to stay in the area where he had achieved fame.
This English production, which we had never seen, showed up on a classic channel recently. Directed by Max Varnel, the film packs a lot in its short running time. Ian Fleming, not the writer, is seen as Paul. Wendy Williams convinces as Ann Dixon. Anton Rodgers appears as Tomson, the tragic figure of a man who does not accept his own condition.
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