To me, this movie is perfection.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The Crimes of Stephen Hawke (1936) ** 1/2 (out of 4)London is under a crippling terror as people are being crushed to death by a man known as The Spinebreaker (Tod Slaughter).THE CRIMES OF STEPHEN HAWKE starts out unlike any other movie that I can remember. It starts off at a radio station where we basically get a radio broadcast for the first seven or eight minutes and then we finally get to the main story. In a rather shocking manor, it starts off with a child being murdered.This here was the third film Slaughter made following THE MURDER IN THE RED BARN and THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. Britain had pretty much put a ban on American horror movies and these British films had to walk a careful line. With that said, this here makes the murder of a child all the more shocking. There are some rather graphic and violent deaths for the era, although they aren't bloody or gory. The sound effects and screams of the people being crushed are certainly the highlight of the picture.As was often the case with these films, the main reason people watch them today is for the over-the-top and at times wacky performance by Slaughter. I don't know how to describe him other than saying he was like John Barrymore had he gone insane and had a mental breakdown to the point where he was a raving dog. Once again he's all over the place here and he really makes himself stand apart from the other actors. The other actors are good but they just can't overtake the all-mighty Slaughter.As far as the film goes, it's certainly a bit better than the star's previous two films and a strong argument could be made that this here is about as entertaining as his horror pictures got.

In Victorian England there lives a kindly moneylender called Stephen Hawke. But underneath his public mask he is an underhand cad. Aided by his hunchback henchmen, he is also the serial killer known as The Spine Breaker. He is so evil he even begins the movie by murdering a child!This film unusually opens at a BBC radio station, where we are introduced to lead actor Tod Slaughter. We also get a song and, of all things, a comedy butcher act. Slaughter pitches up and speaks briefly about the upcoming movie. I am guessing that this extra material was quite typical of its day where we had cinematic programmes that ran for hours encompassing all manner of things beyond the main feature, such as newsreels, cartoons, etc. Whatever the case, it's a strange way to open the movie now but does offer up a time capsule to an earlier era which is quite interesting.The film itself is one of several British Victorian melodramas directed by George King, starring Slaughter. I have a soft spot for these movies as their lurid plot-lines and period detail make them more interesting than most B-movies from the time. And, most of all, they have the charismatic Slaughter as the villain in the main role. He really is a fun actor to watch and no one chews up the scenery quite like him it has to be said. This one follows a similar template to all the rest of these films where he is a pillar of the community who secretly is a ghastly criminal. While this one is basically the same, I don't think it is among his best. The plot-line is a little too uncoordinated and doesn't make use of Slaughter as well as it could. Nevertheless, it's one that should still appeal to most of his fans and I still liked it.

Todd Slaughter is at it again folks,, this time playing a well -mannered banker by day, and being a father to his adopted daughter , but by night folks he becomes...... wait for it..... the Spinebreaker.. very gruesome killer. he kills the rich I guess because he figures that they don't need it. In the Daytime he plays a successful banker, and he also protects his adopted daughter from a potential suitor whom he doesn't really like that much,, I really liked this one because it moved quickly , there was very good dialogue between the characters, and there was some action and mystery,, very good film for the time period.. and Todd Slaughter continues to shine in this horror film.

By spine, I meant suspense. You know, whom the killer in the first scene and know what's playing out isn't for real. It wasn't scary nor much of a thriller. It's disappointing. It's just didn't stand out, and based on how many bother to watch the movie, it's seem that this movie is nearly forgotten due to that reason. The film isn't even television formatted as the title word card doesn't even fit on the screen. There seems to be a lot of wide shots in the movie that doesn't show everything when watching the DVD on TV. The movie opens at a BBC radio studio, where a variety program is being broadcast. After the singing duo of Flotsam and Jetsom and a comic butcher perform, Tod Slaughter appears as himself to perform a radio play about Stephen Hawkes. By the opening, you can see what is wrong with the film. Rather than building suspense by having the events play out. The movie is telling us that the actor is just acting, and it's just a play. What kind of horror movie starts its movie with upbeat music and a comedy act? Also the movie doesn't go back to the radio studio, that's the last we heard from them. So what was the point that scene? It waste time. Anyways, we are taking back to a period piece set type of a movie where Hawkes like all serial killers, appears to others, a model citizen. A money-lender, he is compassionate and caring toward his clients. In a sick incest way, he's also deeply extremely attentive to his lovely daughter, Julia (Marjorie Taylor). On his free time, he become a killer known as the 'Spine Breaker' who viciously kills his victims in a gory and painful manner for his ability to snap his victim's spines. It was pretty shocking to see a child get killed in this 1936 film by Stephen. It wasn't until WWII that the board of censors would enforced codes for horror movies and banned them if they were too violence. This film manage to escape those codes. Like every horror movie at the time, he is aided by his assistant, a strange hunchback, surprising not name Igor. It's seems like every other scene is him driving Stephen Hawkes place to place to hide from the law and Matthew Trimble (Eric Portman) who vows to hunt him down. Stephen rarely looks scary due to his cowardly ways. He's always on the run in this movie. Once in a while, Todd Slaughter acts scary or creepy by hamming or cheesy sinister laughs, but it felt over the top theatricals from his theater performing days when he was playing Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Murder in the Red Barn, or Crimes at the Dark House. It didn't help the movie that it didn't have much of any music to it. There is long scenes that would have been deeply improve with haunting music. The opening and the ending are the only ones I can remember having such music. It's truly is hard to watch. Slaughter is the only reason to watch any of his films, but I will warn you. It's nearly unwatchable.