How did a class act like Mona Freeman allow herself to be drawn into a project as mediocre and one dimensional as 'Shadow of Fear'? The sight of the credits rolling against a backdrop of a gigantic Shreddy does not augur well.
Freeman, just shy of her twenty first birthday returns from the United States, replete with distinct American brogue, to the village where she was raised, for her father's funeral. In the final months of his life, he remarried. Now widowed, Jean Kent is revered, respected - all but canonized -by the locals for her kind nature and generous acts of benevolence. Freeman alone identifies her hypocrisy, the evil behind the eyes and the ulterior motives behind her actions. Though deeply suspicious and fearful of her behavior, convincing others, who see her as running a close second to Mother Teresa, proves to be more difficult than flushing a mattress down a lavatory.
Even amiable, avuncular, rotund police sergeant, Alexander Gauge, best known as Friar Tuck in T.V.'s Robin Hood (updated and rebranded as Air Fryer Tuck for the 2021 remake) becomes indignant and aggressive at Freeman's insinuations.
Cut price and low budget throughout. The car, in which Kent and Freeman almost crash would fit snugly into Peter Cook and Dudley Moore's hilarious Superthunderstingcar parody of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's Supermarionation children's shows from the 60's.
With little to offer in the way of subplots and surprises, Shadow of Fear drifts steadily towards its conclusion. The inconsistencies of the script, the predictable nature of the story line and a raft of mannered, 'pays the rent' acting results in a movie with less gumption than Lord Sumption.
