Pierrepoint - film review
Biographical account of Albert Pierrepoint, Britain's Chief Executioner until his resignation in 1956. The subject matter of the film is largely concerned with Pierrepoint's work, and consequently there is much footage of hangings, as well as the preliminaries and aftermath. Pierrepoint is portrayed as an ordinary man with an unusual line of work. He goes about his job dispassionately, taking care to discharge the duties as efficiently and humanely as possible whilst taking pride in the details of his profession.
In the course of the film we learn about the mechanics of hanging - rather more than one might expect to need to know nowadays. Pierrepoint's ability to judge precisely the correct drop based upon the physical characteristics of the condemned, combined with his rapid conduct of the procedure was highly valued by the justice system. He claimed to dispense almost instantaneous death by breaking the neck between the second and third cervical vertebrae. (Too much drop and the head is ripped off, too little and death results from prolonged strangulation.) His record was such that he was specially requested by Montgomery to execute convicted Nazi war criminals.
However, the job of executioner did not provide steady work, and Pierrepoint also worked as a delivery man, and subsequently ran a pub with his wife Anne. Until he became a public figure after the Nuremberg trials, it seems that he did not mention his other line of work to his wife, friends or acquaintances. Indeed, Pierrepoint held the view that his work should remain secret, treating it with the sanctity that a priest might afford the confessional, and Pierrepoint was distressed at the publicity he received in later years.
The fascination of the film lies in the contrast between the two aspects of his life, and what must have gone on in the mind of a man who carried out the judicial killing of more than 600 people over a period of 24 years. The film provides occasional glimpses, as when Pierrepoint reveals that on entry to a condemned cell he leaves 'himself' outside the door. His detachment from prior details, not caring to know of the crimes of his clients and taking no view as to their innocence or guilt presumably must have provided some of the necessary insulation, especially in cases such as Timothy Evans, posthumously found to have been wrongly convicted and executed. Nevertheless, it must have been an extraordinary individual who could subsequently sleep peacefully in his bed.
The words of Conrad's narrator, Marlow (in Heart of Darkness) seem especially apposite:
"The thing was to know what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own. That was the reflection that made you creepy all over. It was impossible - it was not good for one either - trying to imagine."