Crow Hollow

It's pretty slow much of the time, but this is a decent mystery story that has enough atmosphere and suspense to hold your interest. The story starts with a young bride coming to live with her husband at "Crow Hollow", which is dominated by his three aunts, none of whom are ideal in-laws. Gradually she realizes that her situation is not just unpleasant, but hazardous. It has quite a low-budget look to it, but the characters are interesting enough, and one detail that is done well is the presence of the many crows on the family property, whose constant racket parallels the anxiety building up inside the main characters. It might have been better if the first part had moved much more quickly, because they spent a lot more time setting up everything than they did with the actual mystery. But for a low-budget mystery, it's not bad at all.

Not exactly good, but the photography by Robert LaPresle helps compensate for the cheap sets while papering over the cracks in Michael McCarthy's wildly inconsistent direction of this adaptation of Dorothy Eden's 1950 Gothic novel populated largely by women, in what resembles a very low budget rehash of 'The Three Weird Sisters' (1948), with Natasha Parry in the role played by Nova Pilbeam in the original.

Both are lured from London to an old dark house in the middle of nowhere occupied by three wacky old aunts; including Esma Cannon as an expert on spiders!

Crow Hollow is home to a somewhat dotty and eccentric family -that belonging to a Doctor who takes his newlywed bride to live there.The home is largely occupied by his Aunts ,an outwardly genial but really rather peculiar breed.One is a devoted spider collector ,having several large poisonous specimens around the house ,another busies herself with "good works"and one is a home maker with an obsessive interest in order and tidiness.

Soon the new bride begins to feel unwelcome -not surprising given she has a close encounter with a venomous spider and is fed poisoned drinks .It seems the old dears want rid of her and to see her replaced by a nubile young woman named Willow The acting is okay but the script is too talky and rambling and the direction is slack.Watchable as B movie on a wet afternoon but nothing special

CROW HOLLOW (1952 Movie)

6 out of 10 stars Time to Read: 2:10 min

BASIC PLOT: Robert (Donald Houston) and Anne (Natasha Parry) have had a magical, whirlwind romance. They met and married within a week, with no regrets.

But now the real work begins. Robert is a physician who's residency in London is now over. He's moving back home to set up his practice, and housekeeping with Anne. He lives at an estate called Crow Hollow with his three aunts, and a maid named Willow.

Anne is bursting with exuberance about her new life with Robert, until she arrives at his family's Manor House. Crow Hollow is not what she imagined, and neither are the people in it. The aunts are strange, and the atmosphere of the house is off-putting.

Robert was orphaned young, and raised by his grandfather. Crow Hollow was left to him, on the condition he take care of his three spinster aunts. There's Judith (Esma Cannon), the naturalist, who collects poisonous creatures and plants. There's Opal (Nora Nicholson), who seems to have an odd relationship with Willow (Patricia Owens), the maid. And then there's Hester (Susan Richmond), who seems to be obsessed with soup.

Anne is not made to feel welcome at Crow Hollow. The smiles are masks, hiding dark machinations, leaving Anne feeling perplexed. Why would they wish her to feel uncomfortable? Robert thinks she is reading too much into the small insinuations, but soon, her fears cannot be ignored. She knows someone is trying to kill her, but who?

WHAT WORKS: *GREAT LOW BUDGET ATMOSPHERIC For being made in such lean times in the UK, this really shines. They use wide shots of the house, the train, and the cawing of the crows, to provide an erie sense of isolation and dread. There is an air of disquiet and creepiness, which is at the heart of any great atmospheric.

*THERE ARE PLENTY OF SUSPECTS, AND NO EASY ANSWERS I did not know who the killer was until the reveal, and that is a rarity for me. I usually have everything worked out in the first twenty minutes, but not here. It literally could have been anybody, or everybody, and that is the mark of a quality mystery.

*OTHER REVIEWERS THINK THIS WAS SLOW I disagree. It was an hour and ten minutes, it felt more like a ninety minute movie, and that's a compliment. It's a slow burn mystery, with many reveals. I find it so sad these kids have ruined their imagination, and attention span with their stupid devices.

*THERE'S SOME BEAUTIFUL FILMMAKING HERE some lovely shots, utilizing a lot out of a little. A credit to the director Michael McCarthy and cinematographer Robert LaPresle.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *I KNOW THIS IS BRITISH, BUT THE ROMANCE BETWEEN ROBERT AND ANNE COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER Robert (Donald Houston) and Anne (Natasha Parry) have had a whirlwind romance. I believe in such things, but I also believe passion is at the core of these relationships. We only see a hint of fire between these two, and that's a shame. It would have enhanced the story to see more. (I get it's not shown due to the era, and their Britishness).

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *I would definitely recommend this to fans of mysteries, to fans of slow burn atmospherics, and to those who enjoy watching a lot being made from a little. It takes real talent to make something this enjoyable on so small a budget, but they succeeded beautifully.

CLOSING NOTES: *THIS IS AN EXTREMELY LOW BUDGET MOVIE, please keep that in mind before you watch/rate it. Movies from right after the war in the UK, have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.

*I HAVE NO CONNECTION TO THE FILM, or production in ANY way. This review was NOT written in full, or in part, by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews (less trolls and fanboys), and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.

You have to hand it to British audiences and producers in the 40's, 50's and 60's, they loved their murder mysteries, some were terrible, some iconic, fortunately for a whodunnit addict like myself there are still so many gems to discover.

Today I found Crow Hollow, and it is partly what you'd expect from a 1950's British mystery, The House is creaky, the characters are eccentric, everyone is in the exact place you'd expect them to be for the time, with the exception of Esma Cannon, Aunt Judith, who's a spider loving crazy Aunt, an actress I've always adored in comedy, she's fun to watch as always.

It's generally well acted, engaging, and certainly an entertaining watch. I wouldn't call it a classic, but I really enjoyed, 8/10