Mix Me a Person
Encyclopedia
Mix Me a Person is a 1962 British crime
drama film
directed by Leslie Norman
and starring Anne Baxter
, Donald Sinden
, Adam Faith
, Walter Brown
and Carole Ann Ford
. A young London criminal is faced with a hanging for murdering a policeman. With even his defence counsel convinced of his guilt, a female psychiatrist throws herself into proving that the investigating police and legal system have made a mistake.
She visits the accused, Harry Jukes in prison. He is initially sceptical of her - but he agrees to recount his story. He had stolen a Bentley Continental
car to impress one of his female friends, but when she had instead gone off with another boy, he decided to take the car for a spin in the countryside outside London before dumping it. However, he gets involved in an incident which sees one of the cars go flat. A passing policeman on a bike stops and tries to assist him. Decided they need a jack, they flag down a lorry. The lorry stops and the passenger shoots the policemen, before driving off. Jukes had wrestled the gun from them, which was how he was found when a police patrol car arrived.
Convinced by his sincerity, she begins to probe the facts behind the case despite the scepticism and irritation of her husband, who thinks the police have a watertight case against Jukes. Dyson visits the gang of beats that Jukes hung out with in a cafe
in Battersea
and they agree to help assist her. She also visits Taplow, the man whose car was stolen and he tries to seduce her.
Jukes is convicted at the trial, and also subsequently his appeal. He is taken to the condemned cell to wait for his execution which is little more than days away. Frantically Dyson searches for witnesses or further evidence, but what little she manages to produce does nothing to alter the conviction of the police or her husband that Jukes was the murdered. She catches a break when she manages to track down a couple of adulterous lovers who had been on the road the night of the accident, but fearing blackmail
or being arrested they drive off at high speed and are involved in a fatal accident. With her last hope seemingly gone, and with the execution now hours away - she visits Taplow at his offices which have suddenly become filled with Irishman on the night shift. Suspecting something is amiss she escapes and telephones the police.
It transpires that an IRA
outfit are planning to rob an arms lorry on its way between bases. The previous attempt had been aborted because of a policeman intervening - which led to his shooting and the murder trial for which the innocent Jukes now stands convicted. Now the IRA
are planning a similar operation but are thwarted by the police. Both Taplow and his comrade Terence end up dead. Jukes is released from prison, and returns to join his mates at the Battersea Cafe.
Crime film
Crime films are films which focus on the lives of criminals. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains. Criminal acts are almost always glorified in these movies.- Plays and films...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
directed by Leslie Norman
Les Norman
Leslie A. Norman was a British director and producer. His career spanned nearly fifty years, from 1930 until 1978, and in that time he tried his hand at many different jobs, including editor, producer, and writer...
and starring Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons , The Razor's Edge , All About Eve and The Ten Commandments .-Early life:...
, Donald Sinden
Donald Sinden
Sir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
, Adam Faith
Adam Faith
Terence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith was a Teen idol English singer, actor and later financial journalist. He was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5...
, Walter Brown
Walter Brown (actor)
Walter Brown is a New Zealand film and television actor. He was born Ian Walter Brown in Auckland, New Zealand on 9 February 1927.-Selected filmography:* The Frightened City * Mix Me a Person...
and Carole Ann Ford
Carole Ann Ford
Carole Ann Ford is a British actress best known for her role as Susan Foreman in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She also appeared in the 1962 film version of The Day of the Triffids....
. A young London criminal is faced with a hanging for murdering a policeman. With even his defence counsel convinced of his guilt, a female psychiatrist throws herself into proving that the investigating police and legal system have made a mistake.
Plot
Phillip Bellamy, a leading barrister meets with his wife, Doctor Anne Dyson a psychiatrist and lets drop about case he is about to be involved with defending a young hoodlum who has apparently shot a policemen on a deserted road and been found by police still holding the smoking gun. Bellamy is convinced of his guilt, but is compelled to defend him by the legal code. His wife suggests that she take a look at the patient, as she devotes much of her practice to studying young minds.She visits the accused, Harry Jukes in prison. He is initially sceptical of her - but he agrees to recount his story. He had stolen a Bentley Continental
Bentley Continental
Bentley has used the Continental name on a number of automobiles since 1952From 1952 to 1965 always for cars with more powerful engines than used in standard cars installed in lowered chassis provided to coachbuilders for distinctive and distinguished body shapes of specially lightened...
car to impress one of his female friends, but when she had instead gone off with another boy, he decided to take the car for a spin in the countryside outside London before dumping it. However, he gets involved in an incident which sees one of the cars go flat. A passing policeman on a bike stops and tries to assist him. Decided they need a jack, they flag down a lorry. The lorry stops and the passenger shoots the policemen, before driving off. Jukes had wrestled the gun from them, which was how he was found when a police patrol car arrived.
Convinced by his sincerity, she begins to probe the facts behind the case despite the scepticism and irritation of her husband, who thinks the police have a watertight case against Jukes. Dyson visits the gang of beats that Jukes hung out with in a cafe
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
in Battersea
Battersea
Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...
and they agree to help assist her. She also visits Taplow, the man whose car was stolen and he tries to seduce her.
Jukes is convicted at the trial, and also subsequently his appeal. He is taken to the condemned cell to wait for his execution which is little more than days away. Frantically Dyson searches for witnesses or further evidence, but what little she manages to produce does nothing to alter the conviction of the police or her husband that Jukes was the murdered. She catches a break when she manages to track down a couple of adulterous lovers who had been on the road the night of the accident, but fearing blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
or being arrested they drive off at high speed and are involved in a fatal accident. With her last hope seemingly gone, and with the execution now hours away - she visits Taplow at his offices which have suddenly become filled with Irishman on the night shift. Suspecting something is amiss she escapes and telephones the police.
It transpires that an IRA
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
outfit are planning to rob an arms lorry on its way between bases. The previous attempt had been aborted because of a policeman intervening - which led to his shooting and the murder trial for which the innocent Jukes now stands convicted. Now the IRA
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
are planning a similar operation but are thwarted by the police. Both Taplow and his comrade Terence end up dead. Jukes is released from prison, and returns to join his mates at the Battersea Cafe.
Cast
- Anne BaxterAnne BaxterAnne Baxter was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons , The Razor's Edge , All About Eve and The Ten Commandments .-Early life:...
- Doctor Anne Dyson - Donald SindenDonald SindenSir Donald Alfred Sinden CBE is an English actor of theatre, film and television.-Personal life:Sinden was born in Plymouth, Devon, England, on 9 October 1923. The son of Alfred Edward Sinden and his wife Mabel Agnes , he grew up in the Sussex village of Ditchling, where their home doubled as the...
- Phillip Bellamy QC - Adam FaithAdam FaithTerence "Terry" Nelhams-Wright, known as Adam Faith was a Teen idol English singer, actor and later financial journalist. He was one of the most charted acts of the 1960s. He became the first UK artist to lodge his initial seven hits in the Top 5...
- Harry Jukes - David KernanDavid KernanDavid Kernan is an English actor and singer, best known as an interpreter of the songs of Stephen Sondheim. He has appeared in stage musicals and was a soloist in British TV variety shows of the 1960s and 1970s including That Was the Week That Was 1962-63.Kernan was born in London...
- Socko - Frank JarvisFrank Jarvis (actor)Frank Jarvis was a British character actor.He trained at RADA and made his film debut in Mix Me a Person ....
- Nobby - Peter Kriss - Dirty Neck
- Carole Ann FordCarole Ann FordCarole Ann Ford is a British actress best known for her role as Susan Foreman in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She also appeared in the 1962 film version of The Day of the Triffids....
- Jenny - Antony Booth - Gravy
- Topsy Jane - Mona
- Jack MacGowranJack MacGowranJohn Joseph "Jack" MacGowran was an Irish character actor, whose last film role was as the alcoholic director Burke Dennings in The Exorcist. He was probably best known for his work with Samuel Beckett.-Stage career:...
- Terence, the IRA man - Walter BrownWalter Brown (actor)Walter Brown is a New Zealand film and television actor. He was born Ian Walter Brown in Auckland, New Zealand on 9 February 1927.-Selected filmography:* The Frightened City * Mix Me a Person...
- Max Taplow - Glyn HoustonGlyn HoustonGlyn Houston , is an actor best known for his television work. He is the brother of the late film actor Donald Houston.-Early life:...
- Sam - Dilys HamlettDilys HamlettDilys Hamlett was a British actress.-Early life:Dilys Hamlett was born on 31 March 1928 in Tidworth, Hampshire and developed an early interest in literature and theatre...
- Doris - Meredith EdwardsMeredith Edwards (actor)Gwilym Meredith Edwards was a Welsh character actor and writer.He was born in Rhosllannerchrugog, Denbighshire, Wales, the son of a collier. He became an actor in 1938, first with the Welsh National Theatre Company, then the Liverpool Playhouse...
- Johnson - Alfred BurkeAlfred BurkeAlfred Burke was a British actor, best known for his portrayal of Frank Marker in the drama series Public Eye, which ran on television for ten years.-Early life:...
- Lumley - Russell NapierRussell NapierRussell Gordon Napier was an Australian actor.Russell Napier was born in Perth, Western Australia. Originally a lawyer, Napier was active as an actor from 1947 to 1974, playing both comedic and dramatic roles in both cinema and television. Notably, he starred in a live BBC television production...
- PC Jarrold - Ed DevereauxEd DevereauxEd Devereaux was an Australian actor, who lived in the UK for many years. He was best known for playing the part of "Matt Hammond" in the Australian children's television series Skippy. He was also involved in the series behind the scenes: Devereaux directed The Veteran , for which he received...
- Superintendent Malley - Ray BarrettRay BarrettRaymond Charles "Ray" Barrett was an Australian actor. He was one of the more popular leading men on British television in the 1960s, where he was best known for his appearances in The Troubleshooters . Back in Australia he was a leading man in many TV series over the years.-Biography:Barrett was...
- Inspector Wagstaffe - Nigel DavenportNigel DavenportNigel Davenport is an English stage, television and film actor.- Early life :Davenport was born Arthur Nigel Davenport, however he goes by the first name of Nigel. Davenport was born in Shelford, Cambridgeshire, the son of Katherine Lucy and Arthur Henry Davenport. Davenport's father was a bursar...
- Juke's Stepfather