Had "The Last Man to Hang" not ending on an incredibly improbable and unnecessary twist, I probably would have given it an 8. It was well acted, realistic an very well written. But, with the twist ending, I think it dropped the film to an overall score of 6.
Roderick (Tom Conway) is married to a difficult and neurotic wife. Possibly as a result, he began an affair with another woman. The wife, when told later he wanted a divorce, behaved quite emotionally and irrationally...more so than would be usual in a case like this. Soon after, she is dead from an apparent overdose of a strong sleeping pill....and the husband is being charged for it, as he admits having given her a dose of sleeping pills. While he does not in any way deny this, he does deny that he knew she'd already been given a dose. In other words, he contends he never tried to kill her. It's a case of he says/she says and the film shows not just the events leading up to the trial but the trial and jury deliberations....as well as a completely unnecessary ending that was cool but wasn't logical...leaving MANY questions unanswered...too many to be an ending anyone could enjoy.
Up until the ending, I loved the film. Why, then, come up with such a ridiculous twist which actually contracts much of the film...or at least needs a lot of explaining...which you never got in the movie! Frustrating...especially when the rest of the production was so strong.
By the way, she film showed something that confused me and is perhaps a way that British and American juries differ. In one scene, before the case was handed to the jury to decide, they show the jurors in a room discussing the case and what they thought about Roderick's apparent guilt. If such a meeting and conversations occurred in an American trial, it would be grounds for a mistrial, as jurors are NOT allowed to discuss the case until the defense and prosecution have concluded. It is possible the American and British systems are the same and an editing error placed this scene in the wrong place....instead of about 10 minutes later. I just don't know.
