Set during World War II in London, deserted American serviceman Private Karl Hulten (Kiefer Sutherland) decides to impress small-town Welsh girl Betty Jones (Emily Lloyd) – a waitress who uses the name Georgina Grayson and says she is a stripper – by claimingto be an American gangster (and an army Lieutenant) named Ricky Allen.
It becomes a dangerous fantasy as Betty – looking for excitement – dares him to take ever-increasing risks to prove himself, beginning with a joy ride in a stolen army truck and stealing a fur coat, progressing to viciously bludgeoning a young woman named Violet Hodge (Alexandra Pigg) with an iron bar and throwing her into a river, and the eventual murder of taxi driver George Heath (John Junkin).
Liz Fraser plays Betty’s landlady, Mrs Evans, in her final movie performance.
Wartime London has an unreal feel, with obvious Pinewood Studio sets rather than location filming and a glitzy falseness to the performances. Director Bernard Rose claimed it was deliberate. He was a former maker of music videos – including Relax for Frankie Goes to Hollywood – and the film does have the feel of an extended pop video, albeit without the music.
The film was based on the actual 1944 case of ‘The Cleft Chin Murder’. 34-year-old London taxi driver Norman Heath (the man with the cleft chin) was shot dead in Hammersmith Broadway by American army paratrooper Karl Hulten, who had gone AWOL from his base in Cambridge and was posing as Ricky Allen.
He was hanged at Pentonville Prison on 8 March 1945 and became the only US serviceman to be executed in Britain during the war.
His 18-year-old girlfriend, Betty, was reprieved from the hangman 48 hours before her scheduled execution and served nine years in prison for her part in the murder. She died in 1984.
Karl Hulten
Kiefer Sutherland Betty Jones
Emily Lloyd Mrs Evans
Liz Fraser Violet Hodge
Alexandra Pigg George Heath
John Junkin Morry
Harry Fowler Lenny Bexley
Keith Allen Joyce Cook
Patsy Kensit Mr Cook
John Surman Mrs Cook
Janet Dale John
John Dair Doctor
Stephen Hancock US Colonel
Hugh Millais John Wilkins
Gerard Horan Robert De Mott
Colin Bruce Inspector Tansill
Ralph Nossek Inspector Tarr
Roger Ashton-Griffiths Radio Commentator
John Lahr
Director
Bernard Rose
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It becomes a dangerous fantasy as Betty – looking for excitement – dares him to take ever-increasing risks to prove himself, beginning with a joy ride in a stolen army truck and stealing a fur coat, progressing to viciously bludgeoning a young woman named Violet Hodge (Alexandra Pigg) with an iron bar and throwing her into a river, and the eventual murder of taxi driver George Heath (John Junkin).
The film was based on the actual 1944 case of ‘The Cleft Chin Murder’. 34-year-old London taxi driver Norman Heath (the man with the cleft chin) was shot dead in Hammersmith Broadway by American army paratrooper Karl Hulten, who had gone AWOL from his base in Cambridge and was posing as Ricky Allen.
