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Neither the Sea Nor the Sand

  • 1972
  • R
  • 1h 50m
IMDb RATING
5.7/10
512
YOUR RATING
Neither the Sea Nor the Sand (1972)
Folk HorrorFantasyHorrorRomance

Wife on Isle of Jersey, meets pilot, they become lovers. Flee to Scotland. While making love on beach, lighthouse keeper dies. Incident triggers further events.Wife on Isle of Jersey, meets pilot, they become lovers. Flee to Scotland. While making love on beach, lighthouse keeper dies. Incident triggers further events.Wife on Isle of Jersey, meets pilot, they become lovers. Flee to Scotland. While making love on beach, lighthouse keeper dies. Incident triggers further events.

  • Director
    • Fred Burnley
  • Writers
    • Rosemary Davies
    • Gordon Honeycombe
  • Stars
    • Susan Hampshire
    • Frank Finlay
    • Michael Petrovitch
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.7/10
    512
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Fred Burnley
    • Writers
      • Rosemary Davies
      • Gordon Honeycombe
    • Stars
      • Susan Hampshire
      • Frank Finlay
      • Michael Petrovitch
    • 20User reviews
    • 19Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos10

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    Top Cast9

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    Susan Hampshire
    Susan Hampshire
    • Anna Robinson
    Frank Finlay
    Frank Finlay
    • George Dabernon
    Michael Petrovitch
    Michael Petrovitch
    • Hugh Dabernon
    Michael Craze
    Michael Craze
    • Collie Delamare
    Jack Lambert
    Jack Lambert
    • Dr. Irving
    Betty Duncan
    • Mrs. MacKay
    David Garth
    David Garth
    • Mr. MacKay
    Anthony Booth
    Anthony Booth
    • Delamare
    • (as Tony Booth)
    Marcia Fox
    • Girl in love scene
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Fred Burnley
    • Writers
      • Rosemary Davies
      • Gordon Honeycombe
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews20

    5.7512
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    Featured reviews

    heedarmy

    A bizarre oddity

    This strange film is based on a book by a former British television newsreader and is a combination of love story and ghost story. The settings are striking and the music score effective but it's a slow affair and one is baffled as to what market the film-makers were aiming for.
    6lost-in-limbo

    Strangely fixating.

    A married woman while on vacation falls passionately in love and begins an affair with a lighthouse keeper, only to be left heartbroken when he dies suddenly. However the very next day he turns up on her door-step, in a zombie-like state. Was it her grief that did that? Anyhow she's overly happy, hoping they can rekindle their love. But she soon realises that his body is beginning to decompose and that she must soon decide their fate. Picturesque, slightly disturbing and haunting British Gothic tale of love with a real sense of tragedy and despair. The grotesquely odd story is kind of ambiguous and scratchy in parts, relying on mood (more so then sense), convincing chemistry and a strongly affecting performance by Susan Hampshire. She really does carry it along quite nicely with a real mix of emotions. But the likes of Frank Finlay (especially in his zombie state) and Michael Petrovitch are not being overshadowed. The music was a bit a shamble. Sometimes fitting, other times awkward. The slow pacing is deliberate and some sequences do pack atmosphere (especially when Hampshire's character comes to the realisation they can't be together), but it feels somewhat lukewarm in Fred Burnley's directorial attempt of capturing some sort of brooding realism to this low-key build-up of macabre. It's nicely photographed with the bleak coastal locations adding to the perceptive nature of its story.
    dbdumonteil

    Sous le Sable

    If the director had not died in 1975,he could almost have thought of suing François Ozon whose "Sous Le Sable" ("Under the Sand")bears more than a distant resemblance to "Neither the Sea..."The 2000 work ,starring Charlotte Rampling and Bruno Cremer is certainly more satisfying ,but it owes a lot to the obscure (at least in France) screenwriters of this movie.

    Direction is amateurish ,and it's really a pity because there were potentially great scenes ,particularly this one when Susan Hampshire keeps on repeating in the car "Talk to me!Don't look at me that way!"There's also a good use of E.Browning's poem ("I shall but love thee better after death").Puritanism shows in the first half:George's brother makes Anna realize she is not really the welcome in the house.The woman says that "they were punished because they lived a life of sin".

    The main problem lies in the fact that the "living dead" should not have been "seen " by the others.François Ozon did not fall in the same trap.People who liked this movie should try and see his work too.
    5Mosspiglet

    A film of it's era

    It is certainly slow paced by today's standards but is an interesting piece of cinema folk horror harking back to ideas in The Monkeys Paw by Jacobs. As others have noted there are some good moments. The soundtrack doesn't always work (the jaunty, groovy music expressing the good times only made me giggle). It is certainly a film of it's era. If remade, it would make a good short film.

    Some of the reviews below seem a little confused...the main male character is Hugh, not George who is the puritanical brother, and Hugh is not a lighthouse keeper but works at the Jersey airport with another character Colin, who comes into play later in the story. Though the lighthouse does play an important part as a representation of themes in the story.
    7adriangr

    Slow and poetic

    It's a shame that this film does not get much attention, and it's all but disappeared now. Which is a pity because if you allow yourself to go with the very leisurely pace, it's actually an effective little story. Susan Hampshire plays a woman who suffers such profound grief at the death of her lover that she somehow manages to bring him back from the dead. She doesn't do it intentionally though, and is shocked and bewildered by his seemingly miraculous return. Unfortunately, although he can move about he's still dead in every other respect, so things can only go downhill for poor Susan.

    Filmed outdoors in lots of cold and grey coastal locations, the film is really a bleak love story and probably bored a lot of people to death. Pretty much panned by all critics on it's release it's now hanging somewhere in limbo, and other than a few TV appearances it would probably be impossible to see it now. A modest DVD release might help it recover some fans, as it's really not the failure it has been described as. Competently made and with good performances, it's a lot better than some of the other trash that passes for "cult" fan viewing.

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    Related interests

    Florence Pugh in Midsommar (2019)
    Folk Horror
    Elijah Wood in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
    Fantasy
    Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (1968)
    Horror
    Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
    Romance

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Susan Hampshire was cast because the original choices were beyond the budget of the project.
    • Goofs
      Towards the end of the film, the flowers Collie carries frequently change from being in bloom to not being in bloom.
    • Quotes

      George Dabernon: When does a man die? Who knows what happens in the moment of death? The soul doesn't die, simply leaves the body. But what if it didn't? If it went on living in a dead body? A prisoner, in a body decaying around it. Is it possible? What is possible?

      Anna Robinson: Hugh was not dead.

      George Dabernon: If it weren't for you, this would never have happened. He's possessed, isn't he? Possessed by you. You're a witch, trafficking with the Devil. You have conjured an evil spirit into his dead body.

      Anna Robinson: My love for him has given him life.

      George Dabernon: It's revolting. His flesh is cold. Dead. There is no pulse. No heartbeat. Hugh's body is rotting. It is disintegrating, hour by hour. And something must be done. Now!

      Anna Robinson: Why don't you just go away, leave us alone?

      George Dabernon: I'll prove it to you.

      [he sets fire to Hugh's hand]

      George Dabernon: He fears nothing. He feels nothing.

      Anna Robinson: [On seeing Hugh's hand burning sensibly] Oh, God!

      George Dabernon: [George extinguishes the flame] I tell you, he's dead.

      George Dabernon: [Hugh approaches George] Anna!

      Anna Robinson: Hugh! Sit down. Please. Just sit down.

      George Dabernon: Unbelievable. Unbelievable. At the trumpet sound, the graves shall be opened, and the dead shall rise again. I know what we must do. We must take him to a priest.

      Anna Robinson: A priest?

      George Dabernon: Exorcism. Exorcism. This spirit must be exorcised.

      Anna Robinson: And then?

      George Dabernon: And then he can rest. He can be at peace.

      Anna Robinson: He will die.

      George Dabernon: Yes.

      Anna Robinson: And then it will be over. Everything.

      Hugh Dabernon: [overdub] It will be alright, Anna. Don't stop him.

      [Hugh walks towards the door]

      George Dabernon: You see? He wants it too. He wants to be free. We must go, Anna.

      Anna Robinson: I can't go with you.

      George Dabernon: Believe me, it's the best thing for all concerned. He died; up there on that beach in Scotland. He died.

    • Crazy credits
      [epilogue] "Neither the sea nor the sand will kill their love, Nor the wind take it in envy from them...."
    • Alternate versions
      The UK cinema version was cut by the BBFC to edit a sex scene between Hugh and Anna. The 2008 Odeon DVD is fully uncut.

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    FAQ14

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • November 1972 (United Kingdom)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Beneath Sea and Sand
    • Filming locations
      • Jersey, Channel Islands
    • Production companies
      • LMG Film Productions Limited
      • Portland Film Corporation
      • Tigon British Film Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 50m(110 min)
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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