Torso: The Evelyn Dick Story, directed by Alex Chapple, is a dramatization of Canada's most famous murder trial, involving Mrs. Evelyn Dick (played by Kathleen Robertson), who in 1945 was charged with the highly publicized murder of her husband and son in Hamilton, Ontario. The reason for the extraordinary publicity is that police find only a torso with the head, arms, and legs hacked off, identified as that of her estranged husband, John Dick (played by Jim Boeven). She is also accused of killing her infant illegitimate son despite her obvious maternal love for her young illegitimate daughter, Heather (played by Hannah Lochner). Whereas at first the movie may seduce filmviewers into believing that she indeed committed both crimes, flashbacks seek to establish the context. After police collect evidence, the central location for much of the film is the courtroom, where her defense attorney (played by Bruce Clayton) displays only minimal competence, and the jury doubtless is so shocked by her admission that she had some 150 lovers over the course of her life that they convict her. The judge then sentences her to be hanged. Although she claims that her current extramarital lover, Bill Bohozok (played by Joseph Scoren), committed the crime, evidence also points to possible involvement of her two parents. All four are arrested, but Evelyn is put on trial first, a tactic that enables her mother, Alexandra MacLean (played by Brenda Fricker), to testify against her in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Clearly, something is awry, concludes a distinguished civil attorney, J. J. Robinette (played by Victor Garber), so he offers to handle her appeal, which is successful in pointing out flaws in the case against her, notably unmistakable signs that her parents planted evidence against her. The case is then remanded to the same courtroom for a second trial. Evelyn, however, refuses to implicate her parents, so Robinette finds no way to exonerate her. Instead, he asks the jury to hold that she is guilty of manslaughter, that is, unpremeditated murder. The jury agrees, but she is sentenced to prison for some twenty-five years. Some flashbacks explain certain peculiarities of her upbringing and character. An only child, her authoritarian, working-class parents sought to exploit her femininity from an early age, brainwashing her into having sex in order to finance an expensive private school education and to bring funds and gifts to her family. Her father, Donald MacLean (played by Ken James), even committed incest with her. Torso, in short, demonstrates how parental socialization shaped her personality, while public opinion was prejudiced against her for being a prostitute. Titles at the end of the film indicate that none of the four persons suspected of committing the murder of her husband were convicted of the dismemberment. Her father served seven years for complicity. Neither her mother nor her lover served any time. Evelyn was imprisoned for allegedly killing her son, though released after serving eleven years. Just as she had been a model child, she evidently was a model prisoner. For the rest of her life, a title speculates, she changed her name and moved west in Canada. The film is based on the book Torso, published in 1974, by Marjorie Freeman Campbell.  MH

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Torso
by Marjorie Freeman Campbell

The partial remains of John Dick, a driver with the Hamilton Street Railway, was found in a wooded area along the Niagara Escarpment and eventually his wife is charged with the murder.