Sentenced for Life (1960) User Reviews

The wrong man

[jotix100 · 5/10 · 4 September 2012]

We come into the Old Bailey where John Richards, a man accused of treason in the WWII years, is going to learn his fate as the jury returns to pronounce their finding. John Richards is found guilty and sent to jail to serve a life in jail. His wife is devastated, his young son, Jim, is to young to understand what happened to his father.

Now in 1957, Jim Richards is urged by his mother to go see the father that has been inside for fifteen years. The meeting is dramatic. Jim did not expect to see his father in his present situation. The man has aged considerably. John pleas of innocence create a doubt in Jim's mind. He is resolute in helping his father in any way he can.

Jim thinks if he wants to get to the culprit, he must go looking for his old man's business partner, who seems to be the one responsible for stealing documents that were later sold to the enemy by Thompson. He get to the man via his young, attractive daughter. Passing himself as another man, he gets Sue Thompson to introduce him to his father. Jim's perseverance wins at last.

Directed by Max Varnel, this Danziger British production, of 1960 showed up in a classic channel. Not having seen it, we decided to take a chance. While the film does not bring anything new to the genre, its plot being thin, the story got our attention. In its 63 minutes running time, the story develops at an easy pace. The acting, while not remarkable, it fits the story being told.

Cheaply Executed Second Feature; It Shows It

[boblipton · 5/10 · 20 April 2020]

Jack Gwillim was sentenced to life at hard labor for stealing technological secrets during the Second World War. He insisted he was innocent. His son, Francis Matthews, never saw him after that; in fact, he tells people his father died when Matthews was ten. Now his dying mother insists her son see his father, who still maintains his innocence. Investigating, he finds Jill Williams, the daughter of the man who may have committed the crime. He romances her and she takes him to meet her father, Basil Dignam. Matthews becomes convinced that Dignam was the man who stole the technology.

Max Varnel directs this, but the results are not very good, despite an interesting story. The actors are perfunctory in their lines, and this being a Danziger production, there is no striving for excellence in this cheap second feature. The score is rather strangely lush and romantic.

Varnel is the son of Marcel Varnel, a fine director of British farces until his death in 1947. The younger Varnel had been born in Paris in 1925. His directorial career began in 1958; he mostly directed movies for the Danzigers, and television. Later in life, he moved to Australia, where he directed many episodes of the soap opera NEIGHBOURS. He died there in 1996.

One more Danzigers' product.

[searchanddestroy-1 · 2 March 2009]

Danziger's productions were, between 50's and 60's, like Butcher's in UK. Sort of British PRC. B movies, especially thrillers.

I like those ones, even if there are all not masterpieces. Lots of talk, not very much action sequences, but fairly good films anyway.

This movie I am talking about is not an exception.

The lead character has his father sentenced for life in prison, not for

murder, but for treason and documents stolen during the war, 15 years ago. His mother dies after asking him to swear to clear his father's name, prove his innocence. So, he investigates...

The usual scheme. He meets a girl whose father is involved in the affair, and you can guess the following.

I won't let you know anything more about this. But it's worthwhile.

Rather Tame

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 1 November 2019]

Rather cjeekily the opening shot is a copy of the opening of Scales of Justice.However this film lacks the pace of that series.This moves at a snails pace only to reach a rather somnolent climax.The two thugs that beat up Francis Matthews must have come from rentamob.