The Man in Black

The Man in Black is directed by Francis Searle and Searle co-writes the play with John Gilling. It stars Betty Ann Davies, Sheila Burell, Sid James, Anthony Forwood and Mollie Palmer. Music is by Frank Spencer and Rupert Grayson and cinematography by Cedric Williams.

Out of Hammer Films, this adaptation from a radio series is a tight little "Gaslight" suspenser. Story basically entails a young lady recently bequeathed her father's inheritance, who is at the mercy of scheming family members intent on ensuring she doesn't get what's rightfully hers.

The core of the plot is quickly revealed to us, so there is no pretention as to this being a supernatural dark house spooker - which is on the cards given the splendid shadowy and creaky setting of the Oakfield Towers mansion.

Story moves through a number of pleasant surprises, murder and intrigue prominent, motives straight and sketchy depending on certain characters' involvements, and thankfully the final run in has some weighty surprise value as well.

It's all very correct in dialogue and a little camp in places, but it's clever in its telling and nicely performed by the cast. 6.5/10

Based on the British radio series Appointment with Fear and one of Hammer's earliest ventures into horror, albeit as a film noir thriller, smoking and murder are the order of the day with The Man in Black. Despite all its creaks and groans of cliché, the film remains a thoroughly entertaining watch, filled with spooky kitchen sink melodrama and enjoyable performances. The direction by Francis Searle is adequately engaging, with plenty of moody images which bolster the otherwise notably cheap production and relatively straight-laced script. The interplay between Betty Ann Davies and Sheila Burrell makes up the heart of this film's runtime, and they achieve some sinister moments, yet can also be very funny together, managing to be both repellently toxic and beguilingly seductive at the same time. We are also treated to some prime Sid James in one of his earliest film roles, long before his part in the Carry On ensemble. Here, he plays a serious and quite sober role with conviction, even going as far as to play a dual role, something he does with perfect competence. There are a couple of interesting twists and turns to The Man in Black, but this isn't a classic for a reason; the titular character plays no real part in the narrative, and we don't even see him on screen again after the opening credits end but the film keeps up a relatively breezy pace to the point where, if you're engaging with it, you'll scarcely notice.

Stealing From Radio was a Common Occurrence in the Movies and Television.

This Early Hammer Studios Rendition of a Popular BBC Radio Series is Very Well Done with Excellent Costumes, Make-Up, Acting, and Sets.

The Studio seems to be Firing on All Cylinders with this Effort.

It is a Harbinger of the Style and Success that Hammer would be come Known for After its Break-Through in the Mid 50's.

The Acting is Above Average for this Type of Thing.

And the Snappy Script Keeps Things Hopping and the Two Females that "Gaslight" are Creepy and Loathsome.

Sidney James has a Dual Role.

The Ending is a one of Surprise.

But some may Find it was Telegraphed in the First-Act.

One of the Better of its Type. Worth a Watch to See Early Hammer at Work and for the Overall Production that is Above Average.

It's interesting to see Sid James play a straight (albeit brief) role for change in this simple little crime thriller. He is a wealthy chap with a rather venal second wife and step-daughter. His obsession with mysticism leads, one evening, to a risky experiment and it all goes wrong... We have no absence of potential culprits as his new family try to drive his daughter out of her mind so they can inherit his fortune. Betty Ann Davies is good as the scheming the wife, with Sheila Burrell likewise as her ghastly, grasping, daughter all manipulating poor old "Joan" (Hazel Penwarden) in a decently paced mystery. Sadly the ending is writ a bit large from fairly early on, and that makes it all sag a bit - maybe Francis Searle could have tightened it up by a quarter of an hour? It's still an enjoyable watch, though - with a slightly more sophisticated script (that may owe something to it's BBC radio heritage). It is rarely shown nowadays, but is worth seeing through if you encounter it.

Sid James --in a serious role -- is a rich man who practices yoga. Before a demonstration in which he simulates being dead, he warns that anyone who speaks could kill him dead. His second wife, Betty Ann Davies, makes sure of that. She is disappointed when a quarter of a million pounds is left to his daughter from his first wife, Hazel Penwarden. There's good news, though. If she goes mad before her 21st birthday, the bequest is cut to a fifth of that, Betty Ann picks it up and gets management of that. So Miss Davies and her daughter from a previous marriage, Sheila Burrell, plot to gaslight her, with the help of money-hungry Anthony Forwood.

Nice people. Miss Penwarden seems quite wacky, alternating terror with cheerfulness as people keep dying, and she has conversations with them after they become corpses. I won't say the outcome is a surprise, but it's done with such roguish black humor, that I enjoyed it.

It's based on Valentine Dyall's hit BBC radio show of the same name, and Mr. Dyall is on hand to introduce us to the people involved. At the time, Hammer Pictures, under the "Exclusive Films" distribution marque, offered several movies based on currently popular radio shows, including DICK BARTON, DETECTIVE, MEET SIMON CHERRY, and THE ADVENTURES OF P.C. 49. None lasted more than a couple of movies.