Dr. Crippen (1962 film) Dr. Crippen (1962 film) Dr. Crippen is a 1962 British biographical film directed by Robert Lynn and starring Donald Pleasence, Coral Browne and Samantha Eggar. The film's plot concerns the real-life Edwardian doctor Hawley Harvey Crippen, who was hanged in 1910 for the murder of his wife. The cinematography was provided by Nicolas Roeg. The film ostensibly covers Crippen’s trial but the story is fleshed out with flashbacks to the doctor’s relationship with his coarse, overbearing wife and his affair with a young mistress. Bosley Crowther in "The New York Times" wrote, "well, one must give good scores to Mr.
Hawley Harvey Crippen by Chief Inspector Walter Dew. Crippen admitted that he had fabricated the story about his wife having died and explained that he had made it up in order to avoid any personal embarrassment because she had in fact left him and fled to America with one of her lovers, a music hall actor named Bruce Miller. After the interview (and a quick search of the house), Dew was satisfied with Crippen's story. However, Crippen and Le Neve did not know this and fled in panic to Brussels, where they spent the night at a hotel. The following day, they went