The Crimes of Stephen Hawke (1936) ** 1/2 (out of 4)London is under a crippling terror as people are being crushed to death by a man known as The Spinebreaker (Tod Slaughter).THE CRIMES OF STEPHEN HAWKE starts out unlike any other movie that I can remember. It starts off at a radio station where we basically get a radio broadcast for the first seven or eight minutes and then we finally get to the main story. In a rather shocking manor, it starts off with a child being murdered.This here was the third film Slaughter made following THE MURDER IN THE RED BARN and THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. Britain had pretty much put a ban on American horror movies and these British films had to walk a careful line. With that said, this here makes the murder of a child all the more shocking. There are some rather graphic and violent deaths for the era, although they aren't bloody or gory. The sound effects and screams of the people being crushed are certainly the highlight of the picture.As was often the case with these films, the main reason people watch them today is for the over-the-top and at times wacky performance by Slaughter. I don't know how to describe him other than saying he was like John Barrymore had he gone insane and had a mental breakdown to the point where he was a raving dog. Once again he's all over the place here and he really makes himself stand apart from the other actors. The other actors are good but they just can't overtake the all-mighty Slaughter.As far as the film goes, it's certainly a bit better than the star's previous two films and a strong argument could be made that this here is about as entertaining as his horror pictures got.

Tod Slaughter, Britain's first horror star – and still up there with the best – is at his lip-smacking, eye-rolling best in this decent horror offering that plays to his strengths. Directed by George King, who helmed many such pictures, this might not be as well known as SWEENEY TODD but it certainly packs a punch in its story of the 'Spine Breaker', a ruthless murderer essayed by Slaughter, who enjoys breaking the bones of his victims. Seen today, this film is still fairly shocking in places. It opens with the murder of a child, for instance, who we hear getting his spine snapped! From then on, there's a ton of plot packed into a barely hour-long running time. Slaughter sets himself up in a dual role as usual, with his innuendo-laden moneylender and sinister night-stalking killer. Watch out for the script that offers great lines for the actor, like "I'll get to grips with you soon enough" and "I'll be right behind you".Elsewhere there's a one-legged one-eyed hunchback hopping around for some menace, a ménage a trois between Slaughter's daughter, her lover and a creepy/lecherous aristocrat, and a sub-plot that sees our antagonist locked up in jail for nicking bread! Villains are whipped with cat-o-nine-tails, corpses raise beneath their death sheets, and there's a barnstorming climax that sees Slaughter being pursued to the rooftops! The other actors don't really get much of a look in, to be honest; this is Slaughter's film alone, and he makes a real ham of it. You don't see classic overacting like this in modern cinema! He's a real delight and this is one of his most entertaining flicks. As an added bonus, the film seems better for what precedes it: an excruciating comic-radio-duo, Flotsam and Jetsam, who sing for an age, and then the appearance of the infamous 'cats meat' man, a humorous butcher. Sure, it's dated, sure, it's cheap, but it sure is a lot of fun.

In Victorian England there lives a kindly moneylender called Stephen Hawke. But underneath his public mask he is an underhand cad. Aided by his hunchback henchmen, he is also the serial killer known as The Spine Breaker. He is so evil he even begins the movie by murdering a child!This film unusually opens at a BBC radio station, where we are introduced to lead actor Tod Slaughter. We also get a song and, of all things, a comedy butcher act. Slaughter pitches up and speaks briefly about the upcoming movie. I am guessing that this extra material was quite typical of its day where we had cinematic programmes that ran for hours encompassing all manner of things beyond the main feature, such as newsreels, cartoons, etc. Whatever the case, it's a strange way to open the movie now but does offer up a time capsule to an earlier era which is quite interesting.The film itself is one of several British Victorian melodramas directed by George King, starring Slaughter. I have a soft spot for these movies as their lurid plot-lines and period detail make them more interesting than most B-movies from the time. And, most of all, they have the charismatic Slaughter as the villain in the main role. He really is a fun actor to watch and no one chews up the scenery quite like him it has to be said. This one follows a similar template to all the rest of these films where he is a pillar of the community who secretly is a ghastly criminal. While this one is basically the same, I don't think it is among his best. The plot-line is a little too uncoordinated and doesn't make use of Slaughter as well as it could. Nevertheless, it's one that should still appeal to most of his fans and I still liked it.

The opening scene plays out like every parents worst nightmare as Tod - casing a large country house - tempts an inquisitive child to See "a paradoxical paradox" and gleefully breaks his spine. This film was made in the immediate aftermath of Sweeney Todd's surprise success across the Atlantic and shows every hint of being custom made to cash in on Tod's newfound success - he is even given a special introduction in the prologue. An original script - as opposed to a musty Victoria melodrama original - it is very much Sweeney Todd-lite as Hawke cracks lines about "getting to grips" whereas the demon barber made grisly puns on "close shaves" and "polishing off". Tod is allowed to be more sympathetic with this being one of his few films were he fails to lust after a girl less than half his age. He is even allowed to protect his girl's honour as he escapes from prison very cleverly and slays the lecherous Miles Archer who openly lusts after her. Instead, he is a proper Father to his "adopted" daughter who is allowed to shed a few tears over him after his fatal fall at the end. The rest of the cast is the usual thin gruel that surrounds Tod, with the sole exception of destined-for-bigger-things Eric Portman who brings as easy an authority to the role of the hero as he did to Carlos the gypsy in Maria Marten - especially in the scene where he - in pursuit of Hawke - makes himself at home in an inn and plants his feet upon the table. The usual black humour is present - one fellow inmate of Tod's in the cell who notes Hawke's strange attitude to imprisonment says "he must be married". The man was not only the cheap and cheerful British quota quickie answer to Boris and Bela but an entire theatrical sub-genre unto himself. Victorian melodrama never had a more stalwart champion.