This was a B movie, made in a small studio for little money but in hindsight the credits impress - the studios were Hammer and Robert Lipper, the director was Terence Fisher, the first of several movies he'd do for Hammer, the writer was Frederick Knott, the original play by James Hadley Chase, the female lead was Diana Dors.
Ironically the best know people at the time were George Brent and Marguerite Chapman, who for me are the weak links. Brent had a colourful love life but came across less colourful on screen - I guess his "aging" factor helps. The subplot about his crippled wife feels random - she seems healthy enough in the one scene we see her, then she's dead from getting a letter...? Did I get that right? It's like the baddy needed to do something.
Chapman is fairly bland. It's not much of a role but compare with what Diana Dors would have done - Dors could convey emotion better with her face, the longing, etc. It's also a little creepy the way once Brent's wife is dead Chapman practically rips off his pants.
It's a great performance from Dors - lonely, put about, hungry for love, insecure. Gosh she was good. I can't believe she didn't work more with Lippert and/or Hammer. Hammer especially - imagine her in those horrors, she would've been fabulous. The film loses momentum when she's killed. I wish she hadn't been - she didn't deserve to die, it's depressing. It may have worked better story wise even if Chapman had died... she was in love with Brent... so that looks bad, etc etc.
Fisher uses a lot of long takes to get through his short schedule. This would be less noticeable in the horrors as the art direction was better.
It's set in a book store and there's some fun like bits where a character goes "over near the Enid Blytons".
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