''Urge to Kill'' is a 1960 British

B-movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feat ...

serial killer film directed by

Vernon Sewell Vernon Campbell Sewell (4 July 1903 – 21 June 2001) was a British film director, writer, producer and, briefly, an actor. Sewell was born in London, England, and was educated at Marlborough College. He directed more than 30 films during his ...

and starring Patrick Barr, Ruth Dunning and Terence Knapp. The film is based on the 1942 novel ''Hughie Roddis'' and 1944 play ''Hand in Glove'', both by

Gerald Savory Gerald Douglas Savory (17 November 1909 – 9 February 1996) was an English writer and television producer specialising in comedies. Biography The son of Kenneth Douglas Savory and actress Grace Lane (1877–1956), he was educated at Bradfield C ...

. It is regarded as a minor

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage i ...

thanks to its unrelenting shabby grimness and some dated dialogue – an intellectually disabled suspect is repeatedly referred to as "a mental case", whilst another character, trying to work out why one hapless victim was selected for her grisly fate, speculates "perhaps she was a Jezebel."

Plot

While making her way home from the cinema one night in a particularly grey and drab town, a young woman is murdered in an unusually brutal and sadistic manner. Local suspicion immediately falls on Hughie (Knapp), a strangely behaved and not very bright local youth who has a habit of wandering aimlessly around the town at all hours randomly collecting stray bits and pieces, with a particular fondness for broken glass – which unfortunately for Hughie happens to have been one of the weapons used in the fatal attack. Hughie lives in the lodging house run by his aunt (Dunning), along with a selection of boarders including a kindly elderly gent with a penchant for Bible-bashing (

Wilfrid Brambell Henry Wilfrid Brambell (22 March 1912 – 18 January 1985) was an Irish television and film actor, best remembered for playing the grubby rag-and-bone man Albert Steptoe alongside Harry H. Corbett in the long-running BBC television sitcom '' ...

) and a smooth-talking ladies man (

Howard Pays Howard Pays (11 June 1927 – 12 April 2002) was an English actor who, in partnership with Freddy Vale, started the London-based talent agency CCA. Early life Howard Pays was born in West Ham, Essex on 11 June 1927. Career His first television ...

). Hughie is questioned by the police, but Superintendent Allen (Barr) releases him as there is no firm evidence against him. A few days later another girl is killed in the town, and the locals make up their minds that Hughie is responsible and launch a witch-hunt against him. Believing the police are failing to do their job properly, they start issuing death threats against him after gathering in the pub to discuss the case, and the front window of the lodging house is put through by a large rock. Again, Allen's instincts tell him that Hughie is basically a harmless if odd soul, and is not responsible for the killings. He starts to look more closely at other individuals connected to Hughie, in the belief that somebody is going out of their way to set him up. While the townsfolk continue their vendetta, Allen quietly observes and finds his attention focussed on a likely suspect. He shadows the individual as he walks the streets of the town one night and catches the guilty party almost in the act, narrowly saving another young woman from a murderous attack.

Cast

* Patrick Barr as Superintendent Allen * Ruth Dunning as Auntie B. * Terence Knapp as Hughie *

as Charles Ramskill * Anna Turner as Lily Willis * Christopher Trace as Sgt. Grey *

as Mr. Forsythe * Margaret St. Barbe West as Mrs. Willis *

Yvonne Buckingham Yvonne Buckingham is an English actress who appeared in a number of minor or background roles on episodes of British television series or in British films. She played the title role, though only briefly appearing as the deceased victim, in the ...

as Gwen * Rita Webb as Charwoman

External links

*
''Urge to Kill''
at BFI Film & TV Database 1960 films 1960s serial killer films 1960s thriller films British thriller films Films directed by Vernon Sewell British serial killer films British black-and-white films Edgar Wallace Mysteries Films based on multiple works British films based on plays Films based on British novels 1960s English-language films 1960s British films {{1960s-thriller-film-stub