John Cresswell

Yield to the Night

Loosely based, like Dance with a Stranger, on the Ruth Ellis case, this oddly austere thriller has Dors as the unrepentant murderess waiting in prison, thinking back over the events that made her kill, and agonising over whether she'll be given the death sentence or not. Decidedly anti-capital punishment, the film never actually excites, but thanks to the downbeat mood and the surprisingly effective performances, it does grip the attention. It never, however, attempts to explore in any depth the relationship between the legal practice of hanging and society's attitudes to crime. Yield to the Night was filmed by J. Lee Thompson, the author of Happy Birthday to Me