THE ASTONISHED HEART

THE ASTONISHED HEART (1949). Director: Terence Fisher.

"The capacity to love is stronger in some people than in others and it's dangerous to deny it or to encourage it -- for the wrong reasons."

Put on film four years after Brief Encounter, this play was probably meant to look at infidelity from the husband's point of view instead of the wife's, but it is no way in the league of Brief Encounter. Psychiatrist Christian Faber (Noel Coward, pictured) treats patients who are tormented by affairs then winds up having one himself with an old friend of his wife's. The wife, Barbara, is played by Celia Johnson, who also appeared n Brief Encounter; the other woman, Leonora, is played by Margaret Leighton. Although there are some good scenes and interesting dialogue in the movie, it is generally much too talky and Coward proves (in this at least) a much better writer than actor. His performance as the husband isn't terrible but it's often stilted and passionless, and one can't imagine what on earth the very pretty and vivacious Leonora would have seen in the comparatively boring Christian. Johnson and Leighton are more on the mark. The film's final moments are bolstered by Coward's own heavy scoring, and the last scene is somewhat poignant. Coward's observations about married life and love are often on the money, but the framework is just too insufficient. As for director Terence Fisher, he had better luck with some of his zesty Hammer horror films some years later. 

Verdict: Watch Brief Encounter instead. **1/2.

THE HAMMER VAULT

THE HAMMER VAULT: Treasures from the Archives of Hammer Films. Marcus Hearn. Titan; 2011. Revised and Updated Edition.

This beautiful over-sized coffee table book is a compendium of photos and memorabilia relating to the famous -- some might say infamous -- Hammer studios, who chiefly made horror films but branched out to other genres from time to time as well. Hammer studios made a name for itself with its new, bloodier versions of Dracula and Frankenstein, and made stars of such as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Some of the filmmakers most associated with the studio include Val Guest, Terence Fisher, and Jimmy Sangster, among others. The book is chock full of production stills, behind-the-scenes shots, annotated shooting scripts, posters, drawings, press books, letters, publicity kits, and all manner of esoterica relating to the studio. The book covers all of the output of the studio from the very early days (The Quatermass Xperiment) to more recent films such as The Woman in Black, providing a fairly complete history of Hammer. You can also read about Hammer projects that were announced or conceived but never came to fruition.

Verdict: A must for the obsessive Hammer enthusiast. ***.

WINGS OF DANGER / HAPPY ACTUAL 35OOTH POST

Zachary Scott and  Naomi Chance

WINGS OF DANGER (aka Dead on Course/1952). Director: Terence Fisher.

Pilot Richard Van Ness (Zachary Scott of The Unfaithful) has a secret: he gets black outs that come on without warning. For this reason he has delayed in marrying Avril (Naomi Chance of The Gambler and the Lady) but keeps on flying. Avril's brother, Nick (Robert Beatty) flies off one afternoon and is presumed dead after his plane crashes into the drink. Richard discovers that Nick may or may not have been involved with a gang who cleverly smuggle gold that has been disguised as tools. Nick has a girlfriend, Alexia (Kay Kendall), who may also be involved with the dangerous smugglers, and there is more than one murder. Zachary Scott was one of a number of American leading men who went to England to make "B" movies where their names still had marquee value. Scott deserves better than this TV-type "thriller" that is rather dull despite Terence Fisher's very brisk and efficient direction. The performances by all the named actors are fine, and there is good work from the supporting cast as well, but despite a positive conclusion relating to Richard's condition and his relationship with Avril, the movie is strictly ho hum. This was another of Lippert's Hammer studio "film noir" non-classics. Diane Cilento [Stop Me Before I Kill!] has a small role as a woman who gets involved with Nick. Malcolm Arnold's music helps a bit.

Verdict: You can't say it's awful but it just doesn't excite despite the occasional car chase and crash. **.

NOTE: A while ago I erroneously reported that Great Old Movies had reached its 3500th post. Well, I was never good at math! This is the real 3500th post for GREAT OLD MOVIES (wish it had been about a better picture)! 

THE BLACK GLOVE

Alex Nicol

THE BLACK GLOVE (aka Face the Music/1954). Director: Terence Fisher.

"Happy days! Everyone was poor and no one was evil."

James Bradley (Alex Nicol of Heatwave) is a famous American trumpeter appearing in London. One night he meets a charming young lady named Maxine (Ann Hanslip) who invites him to her apartment for dinner. The next day he learns that the woman has been murdered, and he determines to find out who killed this stranger who struck such a chord in him. The suspects are many: the victim's sister,. Barbara (Eleanor Summerfield), who lost her man to Maxine; Maxine's fiancee, Johnny Sutherland (Paul Carpenter of The Unholy Four); the famous pianist Jeff Colt (Arthur Lane); and his wife Gloria (Paula Byrne). Frankly, the whole business with "Brad" playing detective is ridiculous, even if the inspector on the case implies that he was letting him have a free hand for his own purposes. We even have the bit where this amateur sleuth gathers all the suspects together to make an accusation. The acting is uniformly good, although Nicol is given a rather impossible and somewhat unsympathetic character to play. This Hammer production is like a TV show.

Verdict: Good cast but unmemorable in all other respects. **.

FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED

FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969). Director: Terence Fisher.

Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) is up to his old tricks, blackmailing Karl (Simon Ward of The Chosen), a staffer at an asylum, and his girlfriend, Anna (Veronica Carlson of Dracula Has Risen from the Grave), who owns a boarding house, into helping him in his endeavors. The object of his experimentation is his former associate in brain transference, Dr. Brandt (George Pravda), who is now insane, and whom Karl and the Baron help escape from confinement. Seeking Brandt's knowledge, Frankenstein transplants the doctor's brain into the body of Professor Richter (Freddie Jones) -- and it gets even more complicated after that! Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed has a weak, somewhat slow final quarter, but for most of its length it's quite absorbing and entertaining. Cushing [Cash on Demand] is as wonderful as ever, and the supporting roles, including Thorley Walters, as the foppish but astute Inspector Frisch, and Maxine Audley as Brandt's confused and tormented wife, are well-cast. The scene in which Frankenstein and Karl break Brandt out of the asylum is very suspenseful; there's an excellent prologue showing why the baron must hastily exit his latest HQ; and a good sequence when Brandt -- in another man's body -- goes to see his horrified wife. There's a lot of fussing about with skulls, brains and saws!

Verdict: Fun Franky flick. ***.

SPACEWAYS

Eva Bartok and Howard Duff

SPACEWAYS (1953). Director: Terence Fisher.

Dr. Stephen Mitchell (Howard Duff) is an American scientist working on a top-secret British rocket base. One day his wife Vanessa (Cecile Chevreau) disappears with her lover, Dr. Philip Crenshaw (Andrew Osborn). A repellent investigator named Dr. Smith (Alan Wheatley) suggests that Mitchell killed wife and lover, drained some fuel from a rocket, and put their dead bodies inside it to create the perfect murder -- it has been determined that the rocket may not fall back to earth for many decades. Now Mitchell decides the only thing he can do is risk life and limb by taking a manned rocket into space and bringing back the other rocket to prove there are no corpses on board ... Spaceways has an interesting and unusual plot, and it's well-acted and suspenseful enough to be reasonably entertaining. Director Fisher, responsible for several zesty Hammer horror flicks, does a briskly-paced job, and the beginning of the picture really pulls you in, even if the rest is somewhat disappointing. Duff [Dante] is more than okay as the leading man; Bartok, who is better as the leading lady, also gives a good performance. Michael Medwin plays another scientist named Toby, and Philip Leaver is the fatherly Professor Koepler. Bartok makes a very different impression in this movie than she does in Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace.

Verdict: Good story line with so-so execution. **1/2.

THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF

Oliver Reed

THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF (1961). Director: Terence Fisher.

In a prologue, we meet a miserable landowner, the Marques Siniestro (Anthony Dawson), who wrongly imprisons a mute servant girl (Yvonne Romain), simply because she won't respond to his repulsive advances. In her cell the poor woman is raped by another prisoner (Richard Wadsworth), and then dies in child birth. Her son, Leon (Oliver Reed), is raised by the gentlemanly and compassionate Alfredo (Clifford Evans). Leon goes off to work for a wine merchant, and falls for the man's daughter, Christina (Catherine Feller). Christina's father objects to their romance, but Leon has a more serious problem -- when the moon is full the cursed man turns into a werewolf, running home to commit flesh-tearing murders. Director Fisher has done some excellent Hammer horror pictures, but somehow this misses, a victim of awkward continuity and Reed's overwrought performance, although the other cast members are good, especially Feller, and Hira Talfrey as the servant Teresa. Benjamin Frankel's musical score is a decided plus. This was based on Guy Endore's "Werewolf of Paris."

Verdict: A lesser Hammer despite the talent involved. **. 

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1962)

Heather Sears and Herbert Lom

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1962). Director: Terence Fisher.

The second color remake of the silent classic stars Herbert Lom [Mark of the Devil] as a presumed dead music professor and composer whose work was stolen by a loathsome publisher named d'Arcy (Michael Gough of Black Zoo), and who haunts the Paris opera, kidnapping new singer Christine (Heather Sears of Room at the Top) so he can coach her in her role. The appropriated opera is based on the life of Joan of Arc, but it sounds more like a 20th century work than something from a previous century. An early scene when a corpse suddenly flies across the stage from a rope during a performance makes you think this might be the old story reworked as a nifty Hammer horror film, but aside from some rats and stabs to the eyeball, this version is not much more horrific than the 1943 Phantom of the Opera, and has a less effective chandelier sequence as well. Lom is not as interesting as the disfigured composer as you might expect, Sears is competent but forgettable, and Gough steals the picture with his utterly vicious and slimy portrayal of d'Arcy. Some of the developments of the script give one pause: a producer (Edward de Souza) learns the truth about who actually composed the opera, but does nothing about it, despite d'Arcy's wretched character and his need for comeuppance. In another scene a landlady somehow knows that Lom is still alive even when the police don't. The movie is entertaining, but somehow disjointed.

Verdict: Disappointing thriller with some good moments. **1/2.

THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY

Guy Rolfe [foreground] and David Spenser [behind him]

THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY (1959). Director: Terence Fisher.

Captain Harry Lewis (Guy Rolfe) of the East India Co. has been amassing details about the great many disappearances of people and caravans in Bombay. After heated complaints from merchants about the situation, Colonel Henderson (Andrew Cruickshank), decides a man must be appointed to head an investigation. Although he considers Lewis an expert, he nevertheless assigns the arrogant, insufferable. newly-arrived Captain Connaught-Smith (Allan Cuthbertson) to the job. Meanwhile the stranglers of the cult of Kali continue robbing and murdering with impunity. The severed hand of Lewis' houseman, Ram Das (Tutte Lemkow), who went to get his younger brother, Gopali (David Spenser), away from the cult, winds up on his dining room table to horrify his wife, Mary (Jan Holden). Will Lewis survive to strike down the cult, or are his days numbered? The Stranglers of Bombay is a zesty, absorbing Hammer production with an excellent cast, especially Rolfe [Mr. Sardonicus]; George Pastell as the High Priest of Kali; Cuthbertson as the snooty, hateful Connaught-Smith; Paul Stassino as Lt. Silver, a colleague of Lewis' who secretly belongs to the cult; and Marne Maitland [The Terror of the Tongs] as Patel Shari, who may or may not be an ally. One of the most interesting scenes is a battle between a mongoose and a snake that is on its way to strike at Lewis. Terence Fisher directed a great many films for Hammer studios and others.

Verdict: Hammer hits another home run. ***.

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT

Chris Lee and cohorts seek safety inside circle

THE DEVIL RIDES OUT (1968). Director: Terence Fisher. Screenplay by Richard Matheson, from a novel by Dennis Wheatley.

"I'd rather see you dead than meddling in black magic."

When Duc De Richleau (Christopher Lee) discovers that his young friend Simon (Patrick Mower) and a woman named Tanith (Nike Arrighi) are going to be baptized into a cult that worships the Devil, he takes action. Along with his friend Rex Van Ryn (Leon Greene), Richleau spirits the young couple away where he attempts to keep them out of the grasp and influence of Mocata (Charles Gray), the leader of the Satanic cult. But Mocata has no intention of losing these two souls, and Richleau and his group have to contend with sinister materializations of everything from a little girl to a giant spider, not to mention a devil with the head of a goat. One of the best sequences has Richleau gathering everyone together into a circle of protection in the vast room of a manor house. Lee, Gray, Arrighi, as well as Paul Eddington as Eaton, give very good performances, but while the movie is entertaining, it's not completely satisfying either as thriller or horror. From Hammer studios.

Verdict: Lee is always interesting. **1/2.

FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN

FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN (1967). Director: Terence Fisher.

Baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) is back to his old tricks in another entertaining Hammer horror film. Dr. Hertz (Thorley Walters) brings the baron back from the dead, and Hertz' lab assistant Hans (Robert Morris) is accused of murdering a tavern owner who was actually beaten to death by the bitchy Anton (Peter Blythe) and his nasty, entitled friends. After Hans is wrongly executed, the baron puts his brain into the body of Hans' crippled girlfriend, Christina (Susan Denberg), who committed suicide. Partly controlled by Hans' memories and partly by her own, the pretty "monster" sets out to revenge herself against the ones responsible for the double tragedy. Frankenstein Created Woman begins well but it unfortunately doesn't develop many of its interesting ideas, substituting revenge-murders instead, but is fun enough on that level. The cast is good, however, including Blythe, and Cushing is always adept and watchable.

Verdict: The Baron is back without his monster. **1/2.

STOLEN FACE

Lizabeth Scott and Paul Henreid

STOLEN FACE (1952). Director: Terence Fisher.

While on vacation Dr. Philip Ritter (Paul Henreid). a renowned plastic surgeon,  meets and falls in love with concert pianist Alice Brent (Lizabeth Scott), but discovers that she is already betrothed to another. When Ritter is enlisted to give a disfigured female criminal, Lily (Mary Mackenzie) a new lease on life by giving her a new face, he uses Alice's countenance, and tries to turn her into Alice [sow's ear, silk purse, and all that]! Further complicating matters is Alice's decision to return to Philip, meaning the two women in his life now have the exact same face. This is certainly an intriguing idea [with some echoes of A Woman's Face, not to mention Vertigo, both of which are vastly superior]] but it is astonishing that no one ever calls Ritter out on his completely unethical and highly unprofessional behavior, making this a movie that seems to operate in its own weird little dimension. [The movie seems to find Ritter's bizarre obsessive actions to be reasonable!] On the other hand, Stolen Face is well-acted by the leads and Andre Morrell, has a nice score by Malcolm Arnold, and is completely absorbing.

Verdict: One of the best of the Hammer studio melodramas released in the U.S. by Lippert. ***.

THE UNHOLY FOUR

William Sylvester  and Paulette Goddard

THE UNHOLY FOUR (1954). Director: Terence Fisher.

"I don't like people very much -- not even the people I like."

Philip Vickers (William Sylvester), who has been missing for four years, shows up unexpectedly at a party being thrown by his wife, Angie (Paulette Goddard). Philip claims that years ago in Portugal a blow on his head from one of his alleged friends, possibly working at his wife's request, gave him amnesia, and now he is back to discover who it was who tried to kill him: Harry (David King-Wood), Job (Patrick Holt), or Bill (Paul Carpenter)? Also in the household is Angie's friend Jennie (Kay Callard), who feels Philip is up to no good and possibly out to harm his wife. When one of the aforementioned suspects is murdered, Inspector Treherne (Russell Napier) is called in, and soon everyone is sniping at everyone else and accusing each other of assorted malfeasances. While Terence Fischer's direction is solid, the talky screenplay is the problem with this half-baked melodrama, in which the characters, none of whom are likable or even that interesting, are one-dimensional, and the plot confusing. This was Goddard's last movie but one -- she also did several TV assignments in her later years --   and even at 44 she looks a bit haggard. Her performance is okay although, like Fisher, she isn't given very much to work with. Cast against type as an arch, suave, borderline villain, Sylvester at least gets an A for effort. Russell Napier is the British version of Lloyd Nolan. The supporting cast is good, with particularly good work from Carpenter and Callard. Leonard Salzedo's score does a lot of the work to keep this even mildly interesting. Another Hammer studio mystery released in the US by Lippert.

Verdict: One you can easily miss. **.

BLACKOUT (1954)

BLACKOUT (aka Murder By Proxy/1954). Director: Terence Fisher.

Casey Morrow (Dane Clark) is moping around getting drunk in a bar when an attractive blond named Phyllis (Belinda Lee) pays him 500 dollars to marry her. He later learns that her father was murdered later that night, that she is already engaged to another man, and seeks the help of a painter, Maggie (Eleanor Summerfield), who is doing a portrait of the mysterious Phyllis. Blackout meanders along from scene to scene without much suspense or tension and director Terence Fisher seems as disinterested with the material as the viewer probably will be. There is a very good scene when Casey sees his mother (Nora Gordon/Gorden) for the first time in several years wherein the actress beautifully expresses both her joy at seeing her boy and her suppressed rage at his being out of touch for so long. Clark and the other cast members all give good performances, but the movie is more tedious than anything else. Betty Ann Davies shows some bite as Phyllis' unlovely mother. Another Hammer studio crime drama released in the US by Lippert. The later film Homicidal also had a blond paying a man to marry her but was much, much more entertaining. Lee was in the far superior Footsteps in the Fog the following year, and Summerfield made Man Bait the year before.

Verdict: Watch this during a blackout. **.   

DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS

Dracula (Christopher Lee) in attack mode

DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS (1966). Director: Terence Fisher.

Two couples are touring Europe -- Helen and Alan (Barbara Shelley, Charles Tingwell) and Alan's brother Charles (Francis Matthews) and his wife Diana (Suzan Farmer) -- when they are warned to stay away from Carlsbad by Father Sandor (Andrew Kier). Naturally, they go directly to Carlsbad despite Helen's sensible misgivings. There they wind up "guests" in Dracula's castle (which is not musty and full of cobwebs but quite beautiful and handsomely appointed) and given every courtesy by the late count's helpful manservant, Klove (Philip Latham). It isn't long before Dracula is no longer dead, however, and a cat and mouse game ensues between him and Klove and the two horrified couples. With top notch photography [Michael Reed], direction and acting -- Christopher Lee makes quite an impression as Dracula despite the fact he hasn't a line of dialogue --  this is one classy horror film, superior to its predecessor Horror of Dracula, good as that was. (Neither Lee nor Dracula actually appeared in the first follow-up, The Brides of Dracula.) Creepy and suspenseful, this one works every step of the way. As usual, James Bernard's music is a bonus. Peter Cushing's brief appearance at the opening is taken from a previous film.

Verdict: One you can really sink your teeth into. ***1/2.

THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN

Peter Cushing

THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958). Director: Terence Fisher.

In this sequel to The Curse of Frankenstein, the dear baron Frankenstein (Peter Cushing), about to be executed for his crimes in the first film, manages to have a priest beheaded instead of himself [so he's obviously not all bad!] Using the name of "Victor Stein" -- now that's a sensible pseudonym -- he becomes a doctor in a clinic for the indigent in Germany and distinguishes himself with his complete lack of a bedside manner. A promising young doctor, Hans Kleve (Francis Matthews), assists the baron in his new-old experiments, and affects a brain transplant involving Karl (Michael Gwynn) and a patient in the clinic played by Richard Wordsworth of The Quatermass Xperiment/Creeping Unknown, with predictably unpleasant results. Lionel Jeffries almost steals the picture with his gritty portrayal of a grave robber. As nurse Margaret, Eunice Gayson is very pretty but makes little impression otherwise. Followed by The Evil of Frankenstein.

Verdict: That baron never learns! ***

THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN

Robert Urquhart and Peter Cushing

THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1957). Director: Terence Fisher.

In Hammer studio's reinvention of the Frankenstein legend, Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) is not a conscience-stricken man but a veritable sociopath, this being the second 1957 film to present a totally evil Dr. Frankenstein [the first being I Was a Teenage Frankenstein]. Victor is not only amoral, but he's quite the lover boy, making out with the saucy maid, Justine (Valerie Gaunt) but getting rid of her when she proves a complication. Victor is assisted by his boyhood tutor, Paul (Robert Urquhart), and has a fiancee named Elizabeth (Hazel Court); the creature is played by no less than Christopher Lee. The Curse of Frankenstein has absolutely nothing to do with Mary Shelly's novel, but it borrows an idea from the Universal picture with Karloff in that the monster is given a damaged brain. The acting from all is very good, including Melvyn Hayes as Victor as a boy. Except for the end credits, the musical score sounds practically generic. Followed by The Revenge of Frankenstein.

Verdict: All told minor but influential and quite entertaining. ***.

THE CHARM OF EVIL: TERENCE FISHER

Terence Fisher

THE CHARM OF EVIL: The Life and Films of Terence Fisher. Wheeler Winston Dixon. Scarecrow Press; 1991. Introduction by John Carpenter.

This is an exhaustive, superbly-researched look into the life and work of British director Terence Fisher, who helmed a great variety of films but is today best remembered for his work for Hammer Studios, including Horror of Dracula, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, The Gorgon, and many others. More a career study than a biography proper, there is still much of his personal life, with recollections from his widow and those who worked with Fisher. Dixon looks into Fisher's pre-Hammer work, interesting films such as Stolen Face and Portrait from Life, as well as such curiosities as Four-Sided Triangle and Blackout. While an obvious admirer of his subject, Dixon doesn't slavishly love everything the director did, [although one might wonder about his defense of such comparative drek as The Earth Dies Screaming.] Some might feel Fisher isn't worthy of such intensive scrutiny as Hitchcock, but Fisher's best films show a firm directorial hand and are both vivid and dramatic. The book is written in an academic style that isn't too off-putting, although Dixon betrays a certain prissiness at times. Some might eschew the somewhat tedious shot by shot analysis that Dixon occasionally goes in for and just look at the movies themselves. Basically, this is a well-done, scholarly and admirable labor of love.

Verdict: For Fisher fans this is the "reel" deal. ***1/2.

THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING

THE EARTH DIES SCREAMING (1964). Director: Terence Fisher.

In a small village in England, people suddenly drop dead in the middle of everyday tasks, or even when driving cars or railroad trains. Jeff Nolan (Willard Parker), an American pilot who was in the air when the disaster occurred, meets up with a group of people who were similarly spared and they gather inside the village inn. Then slow-moving robots with a death touch appear from out of nowhere, and the people they kill reanimate as pop-eyed living corpses.There's enough material here for an interesting horror/sci fi flick, but Terence Fisher, director of such fine movies as The Gorgon, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, and Horror of Dracula, must have tossed this stinker off in a couple of days without insisting on rewrites. You never quite get a sense from the script or the actors that this might well be the end of the world, there's hardly any atmosphere, and some of the proceedings are quite illogical. Willard Parker was in What a Woman! with Rosalind Russell. Virginia Field, who plays Peggy, was married to Parker at the time and gave vivid performances in such films as Dial 1119 and on such shows as Perry Mason. The Earth Dies Screaming is professional enough, but it's just blah, devoid of inspiration or commitment from anyone, although some of the actors do what they can with inferior material.

Verdict: Like one of the more forgettable episodes of the sixties TV show The Outer Limits. *1/2.

THE BRIDES OF DRACULA

THE BRIDES OF DRACULA (1960). Director: Terence Fisher.

A young French woman, Marianne (Yvonne Monlaur), on her way to a girls school to join the teaching staff, spends the night in the castle of a lonely old woman, Baroness Meinster (Martita Hunt), who tells her that her son, the baron (David Peel), lives by himself in another part of the castle. Marianne finds him and is shocked to see that he is in leg irons. Freeing him, she unleashes a wave of vampirism that engulfs the girl's school and brings in that legendary vampire hunter, Professor Van Helsing (Peter Cushing). This sequel to Horror of Dracula  has its moments but suffers from the fact that there is no actual Dracula -- or Christopher Lee, who played the count in the first film -- in the story. Nonetheless Peel makes an impression as this substitute bloodsucker, and Freda Jackson scores as the housekeeper, Greta, who looked to the baron's needs for years and goes literally mad when he finally escapes; Hunt is also good as his mother. Cushing, of course, is excellent. Nothing terribly provocative happens at the girls school, but director Fisher still handles it with his usual dramatic flair.

Verdict: Entertaining if minor Hammer horror flick. **1/2.