The Ticket of Leave Man

Quick culture lesson: from what I gather a “ticket of leave” means you've been released from prison. So calling someone a “ticket of leave man” seems to be similar to calling someone an “ex-con.” I say this because the title The Ticket of Leave Man made no sense to me until I got to the point of Bob being released from prison, so now, if you were in the same boat, hopefully my plot summary will make a little more sense to you.

The Tiger is a mysterious killer terrorizing London. No one knows what he looks like, but everyone fears him. The lovely daughter of a banker is engaged to be married to Bob, but Tiger wants her for himself. He plants counterfeit money on Bob and gets him thrown into jail. With him out of the way as well as the stolen money (the real money) Tiger starts up a charitable organization that robs people blind under the guise of helping others and uses that as a way to get to May.

When Bob gets out of jail May gets him a job by lying about who he is. When Bob's new boss is swindled by counterfeiters Bob is put in charge of the investigation, but Tiger is on to him and aspires to get him thrown into jail for good.

I swear, these movies, at least the old black and white ones, sure don't show favorably on the English judicial system of the time. It's awfully easy for an innocent man to be accused, and at least in this case actually incarcerated, while the guilty party fools everyone with a couple of good deeds.

Tod Slaughter seems to excel with these kinds of criminal masquerading as honest citizen who is also after a girl far too young for him roles. I didn't recognize any other names, but didn't find any of the unknowns to be unbearably bad even though some of them aren't necessarily all that good, either.

Despite the frame up being a bit weak, and Tiger not really seeming like the kind of killer that could terrorize an entire countryside, it's an OK movie. The conflicts are mostly interesting and the payoff pretty good. The result is entertaining and mostly satisfying but not impressive.

MORALITY:

Like most black and white movies this is pretty tame. There is very little, mild strong language.

There is some violence, but it is bloodless.

There is nothing sexual and no nudity.

SPIRITUALITY:

The subject of someone doing evil behind a mask of righteousness is one we could discuss for hours because there's a lot of related ground to cover. It's going to happen. To judge Mother Teresa by the actions of Fred Phelps is no different from me condemning all jocks because a football player bullied me. At the same time refusing to acknowledge that there are genuine religious hypocrites out there makes one look disingenuous.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

If you like old 30's suspense films The Ticket of Leave Man might be worth the effort to see. It's not so good that I would recommend it to everyone, but it is enjoyable.

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