You've got to love Tod Slaughter. This hammy English actor has more or less been forgotten nowadays. He seems to be no more than a footnote of cinematic history. Yet I think this is a serious injustice, as every Tod Slaughter vehicle I have seen has never been anything less than entertaining. He specialized in playing cads in a series of Victorian melodramas. There weren't that many of them and Slaughter's cinematic career doesn't encompass all that many screen outings. He seemed to end up going back to the stage. His acting certainly would not have been out of place in the theatre, it's so hammy and over-the-top. But the leering villains he played were tremendously memorable, and Slaughter never seems to ever let you down. In this one, like all of them, he plays a middle-aged villain who lusts after a much younger woman, and nefariously sets a plan in motion where her fiancée is incarcerated, leaving Tod with seemingly easy access to the girl. This plot-line is extremely typical for his films. His character is a killer called the Tiger, who goes around London murdering people. He is aided by a stereotypical crooked Jewish moneylender. The innocent fellow they put in prison is the ticket of leave man of the title, i.e. a chap just out of jail looking for a break. Naturally, evil Tod has to deal with this chap when he comes back into society.

This is not the best Slaughter production. And like most of the others it's certainly no classic. But Tod is a very fun guy to watch and these melodramas he appeared in back in the 30's are still enjoyable to watch, unlike many other similar cheap productions from the time. This one is certainly formulaic, but it's acceptable when it's the unusual and unique attractions of Tod Slaughter that is the main draw.

Pudgy screen presence Tod Slaughter deliciously plays a killer named the Tiger, famed for his thieving, murder, and anonimity. Slaughter, as with all his films it seems, sets his sights on the fiancée of a young bank clerk. Tod practically drools as he leers at the young lady and then sets up a plan with a dishonest moneylender to set the boyfriend up with some counterfeit bank notes. The plan works and the young man serves his term in prison. He gets out early and finds that no one will give a second chance to a Ticket of Leave man, that is a man who has been released from prison. Slaughter, still with designs on the pretty young lady, must find new ways now to deal with the man she still loves. Maybe if the young man becomes too desperate he will go to a life of crime. Slaughter is wonderful in this film. When we first see him, he is wearing a striped outfit with a bowler hat that makes him look truly ridiculous. Even when he disguises himself as an older man trying to help ticket of leave men(this is done to impress the young lady), Slaughter still forces the young lady to kiss him for his favors. His screen time is a joy to behold. He leers better than any other actor ever has on the screen. If you doubt it...watch his films. Slaughter makes leering an art form. This is a nicely directed film and lots of fun. Director George King does a serviceable job with an above-average cast, but make no mistake...this is Tod's film all the way!

"A criminal mastermind known as 'The Tiger' has set his sights upon the beautiful fiancée of a bank teller. Hoping to eliminate his rival, the criminal plots to frame the young man for passing counterfeit money, thus have him sent to prison and freeing him to pursue the girl. After the man serves his time for the crime he didn't commit, he returns home to win his love over and stop 'The Tiger'," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Barnstorming Tod Slaughter (as James "The Tiger" Dalton) breathes some life into this old English chestnut. Earnest John Warwick and soprano Marjorie Taylor are the pretty fiancée and bank teller. The men wear phony sideburns. Mr. Slaughter kissing the fainted body of Ms. Taylor is a memorable moment. And, both "The Tiger" and hawk-nosed "moneylender" Frank Cochran (as Melter Moss) are more properly disposed of than in the original play.

***** The Ticket of Leave Man (10/37) George King ~ Tod Slaughter, John Warwick, Marjorie Taylor