Today, in the U.S., there is a strong desire to restore the death penalty in homicide cases on most premeditated levels. In most states that have a death penalty it is only supposed to be used in murders of police officers and public officials. Certain states use it in any homicide case which fit the minimum for making the perpetrator seem to be planning to kill his victim for some time.

There is no clear right or wrong point on this controversy. Anti-death penalty advocates ignore the damage done to the family and friends of homicide victims, while pro-death penalty supporters forget that there are cases where the perpetrator is not as hopelessly bad as one imagines but had reasons that might mitigate.

It is of interest to Americans to see the same problem has and bedeviled other nations. In particular Great Britain. From 1950 - 1960 a series of great homicide cases shook up British belief in capital punishment. Some have been the subject of movies.

The first was the Christie / Evans Tragedy that was the subject of the film 10 RILLINGTON PLACE. Christie, a strangler and necrophiliac, killed over a dozen women burying the corpses in the walls and garden of his home. Two of the victims appear to be Mrs. Evans and her baby daughter. But Christie had been the chief witness for the prosecution of Timothy Evans for these murders in 1950. His testimony sent Evans to the gallows. Christie followed three years later. It took nearly a decade for the British Government to admit an error in executing Evans, who was posthumously rehabilitated.

In 1954 came the Craig - Bentley tragedy, the subject of the film LET HIM HAVE IT. Chris Craig, a youth of about 15, went on a criminal spree, followed by his mentally challenged playmate Derek Bentley (age 19). Chris hated policeman, and he and Bentley were cornered on a roof. Bentley was in police custody, and seeing a constable confronting the armed Chris shouted, "Let him have it, Chris!" The meaning of this sentence is in dispute to this day. Most likely Bentley was telling Chris to hand the gun to the constable. Instead, Chris shot and killed the Constable. Chris was underage, and could not be put to death. Bentley (who you remember was in police hands at the time of the shooting),was of the right age for possible execution. He was tried, convicted, and executed. Craig served a long term for a juvenile, was released, and eventually became a farmer.

The following year came this story: the Ellis - Blakeney tragedy. There have been other female killers who have been executed in Britain before Ruth Ellis. Edith Thompson, in the 1920s, comes closest to her in sympathy because she was a remarkable woman, and her conviction for killing her husband seemed due to her jury trying her more for adultery with the actual killer (her lover Frederick Byswater) than proof that she tried to murder her husband Percy (whom Byswater eventually did kill). She appears to have been in a physical state of collapse when she was hanged in 1922. More sympathy had been shown to Alma Rattenbury in 1935 when she and her lover were tried for killing her husband Frances, a prominent architect. She was acquitted (her lover got the death sentence),but she committed suicide thinking about the lover - who, ironically, was given a reduced sentence.

Edith Thompson and Alma Rattenbury were both good looking, and talented. Rattenbury was a part-time song composer, and Thompson's letters to Byswater shows a remarkable intellect at work. Similarly, Ruth Ellis was a good looking blonde, who was helping to run a social club (i.e. bar). She had a boy and a girl, and was cool and collected looking on the outside, but capable of having real emotional turmoil on the inside. She met an upper class amateur racing driver named David Blakeley, and they had a romance. But he dropped her, basically at the advice of his upper-crust friends and family. Ellis could not get him out of her system (despite the attempts of her friend and boss Desmond Cusins, who wanted to marry Ellis himself). Eventually, after Blakely and she had several public scenes, Ellis shot him to death on a public street. When asked later on (at her trial) if she intended to only wound him, she admitted she wanted to kill him. She was found guilty and hanged. But there was a tremendous uproar from the public. It was a typical French-style crime passion-ale, and deserved different treatment from say a murder connected to a robbery. As a result of the large revulsion felt by the British public, Ruth Ellis turned out to be the last woman in Great Britain to be executed.

The top three roles are Miranda Richardson as the doomed Ruth, wishing that she could get the right signals back from the self-centered Blakeney (superbly played by Rupert Everett). Between them they let Americans understand the crazy state of snobbery that exists in Britain even after two World Wars and the collapse of it's leadership position in the world. Blakeney does not really need too much convincing to dump Ruth - his friends the Findlaters (Tom Chadbon and Jane Bertish) put up the social pressure to do it (Ruth later blames the tragedy on their meddling). As for Cusins (Ian Holm) he is a man of abilities and some position who is hopelessly in love with a woman who won't look in his direction (but he's always ready to return being the doormat or helper of the same woman). It is a fascinating view of a doomed trio of losers, who could not break out of their interconnections and their incompatibilities.

I've just read the last user review on this film & I would advise anyone who has any knowledge of the Ruth Ellis story to ignore it. There were legal reasons why everything was not explained. The boy was a result of a war time romance. Ruth Ellis also had a husband (& daughter) who for legal reasons could not be named or mentioned. Ian Holm played the part of her lover who did exist & did nothing to help her once she was arrested.

If you don't understand the film read the following books first & then watch the film: Ruth Ellis: The Last Woman to Be Hanged (Robert Hancock) Ruth Ellis: My Sister's Secret Life (Muriel Jakubait, Monica Weller) Ruth Ellis, My Mother: A Daughter's Memoir of the Last Woman to Be Hanged (Georgie Ellis, Rod Taylor)

Personally I think the film is excellent but of course I did know the story before I watched it.

Billing this as the tale of "the last woman who was executed in Britain" sorta lets you know up front that Miranda Richardson's widescreen debut is going to end badly.

Director Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) pulls gut~wrenching performances from his leads, Miranda Richardson, Rupert Everett & the always~underrated Ian Holm, in this fascinating fact~based story about utter sexual obsession.

Set in the dark '50s.

Ruth Ellis (Richardson) runs and lives above a nightclub/brothel frequented by several of London's wealthy gadflies. She's platinum blonde, all brass and ummm... well~liked by the local gentry.

She also has a young son named Andy, about to enter school, who turns the blindest of innocent eyes to Mom's lifestyle.

Enter David (Everett),a sullen alcoholic rich boy and LeMans auto racer wannabe who's taken in by Ruth's wiles within moments of seeing her for the first time ~ after being introduced to Ruth and her "club" by his equally well~heeled close friend Desmond (Holm).

What unfolds is the single most riveting ~ and more importantly, believable ~ love/hate relationship film I've seen. There have been tons of movies about obsessive lust (and I'm not talking about the flix they rent behind that door at the back of your video store whose "A" section takes up three aisles) but this one is a real treat.

David, you see, is seriously involved with another woman when he meets Ruth... yet beds the latter in quick fashion. The other woman (eventually his fiancee) is the rub. As is David's penchant for getting drunk and simultaneously developing still a third wandering eye.

Still, it's Ruth he wants. To the point of showing up at the oddest of times to woo (or just rant drunkenly, incoherently at ~ or just to hit) her. All the while winnowing his way deeply into Ruth and her son's hearts and lives.

Meanwhile Desmond stands stoically by until nearly the bitter end, supporting Ruth during LeMans~boy's long absences and sustaining her each time David fails to live up to his promises, which is pretty much always.

The "fights betwixt the leads" scenes are the best, the most creatively acted and directed.

After a while, Newell yanks you into the almost~triangle between the three and one begins to attempt to choose sides. This proves to be impossible, as none of the characters are particularly sympathetic.

IE: this ain't a Hollywood movie. Each character has flaws which are well~defined, there's no happy ending and (are you listening, Jim Cameron?)... no sequel.

Richardson is simply astonishing in her premiere. Each note she plays, screaming or smoldering, is just right (hence Miranda's Rights).

Everett's superb as the sociopathically obsessed lover.

And Holm is, well, brilliant. Color him unrequited with a vengeance.

9 of 10 Niro~Stars