Condemned to Be Shot

I cannot lay claim to having seen this film, because it was made in 1939 and nothing was recorded by BBC Television in those days.

However, I do remember reading about it in a book about the History of Television in a "reference only" section of a municipal library many years ago. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a copy of the book since - neither in any bookshop nor by way of an On Line service.

As the title implies, the story is centred around a prisoner who is condemned to be shot after a "show trial" in some Communist country, of which there would have been much criticism about during the 1930s.

The Justice System in such countries would have been very arbitrary. Juries, if such a body of 12 men "loyal, good and true" existed under the Law System in such countries, would probably have been afraid to declare a man as being innocent for fear of themselves being penalised by the authorities.

The novelty of the way the play was filmed, which has very rarely been seen in films and plays since, was that the condemned man was never seen in front of the camera. The television screen acted as the eyes and ears of the condemned man - right up to the time when he was forced to stand before the firing squad.

I cannot give a rating for this film because I was not born until 1951 and neither my parents nor grandparents would have owned a television in 1939.