Film Dope


The Last Page

Man Bait

Terence Fisher
Director
Hammer Films
Production Company
Lippert Pictures
US Distributor

Bookstore owner gets involved with his winsome clerk, who has fallen under the influence of a seedy con man. Murder and blackmail ensue.

Decent plot, but everything moves at such a considered pace it saps whatever vitality is there. Raymond Huntley comes off best, while Brent is his usual cardboard cutout, and Chapman has little to do, as usual. Notable mainly for being Fisher's first Hammer.

Note: Credit order here follws the UK version, which has end credits. The US cut lacks these and additionally gives Dors an "introducing" credit, even though she had been in nearly a dozen films.

-Dave W.

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Man Bait
25th January 1952
Cinema



78 mins
1.37:1

The Last Page
23rd April 1952
Cinema



84 mins
1.37:1

Man Bait
25th July 2006
DVD





George Brent
George Harman
Marguerite Chapman
Stella Tracy
Raymond Huntley
Clive Oliver
Peter Reynolds
Jeffrey Hart
Diana Dors
Ruby Bruce
Eleanor Summerfield
Vi
Meredith Edwards
Chief Inspector Dale
Isabel Dean
May Harman
Harry Fowler
Joe
Nelly Arno
Miss Rosetti
Conrad Phillips
Detective Todd
Lawrence Ward
Detective Lang
David Keir
Mr. Quince
Eleanor Bryan
Mary Lewis
(as Eleanore Bryan)
Jack Faint
Blue Club Receptionist
Harold Goodwin
Frank, Blue Club Waiter
Leslie Weston
Mr. Bruce
Courtney Hope
Bookstore Customer
(scenes deleted from US cut)
John Mann
Jack, Tobacconist
Archie Duncan
Police Constable Gibbon
Lawrence O'Madden
First Customer
Ian Wilson
Customer Looking for Mushroom Growing Books
Alan Beaton
Blue Club Patron
Martin Lyder
Blue Club Barman
(uncredited)
Jim Brady
Vi's Date
(uncredited)
Pat Ryan
Blue Club Patron
(uncredited)
Unknown 11956
Bookstore Customer
Charles Hammond
Bookshop Customer
Unknown 11956
Bookstore Customer
Unknown 11956
Removal Man
Unknown 11956
Mug Shot