Starring Gwen Watford, Patrick Allen, Felix Aylmer, Niall MacGinnis, Janina Faye
Directed by Cyril Frankel
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
A principal and his wife, newly transplanted in a Canadian town, learn an elderly neighbor had their daughter take off her clothes and dance for him, and try to press the police for action, but run into opposition from the old man's powerful son.
A harrowing social drama from Hammer Films, it's as disturbing as any of their horror films and perhaps even more so. Expertly scripted from the play by Roger Garis, well-acted, and directed, the film examines one family trying to destroy another to preserve itself, with a contentious case of sexual abuse at its center. Young Janina Faye succeeds in portraying Jean Carter, a picture of innocence which her parents cannot not believe in, but nearly everyone else is trying to discredit or negate her claims, an all-too familiar story we see too often in today's world, and as shaking it was in 1960, it's a sad commentary on our contemporary past and present. I'm not sure to what degree the play was condensed, if any, but the detailed attempts by the Carter family to find some way to strengthen their case, and their spirited discussions of what they should do, make the family seem so real and authentic. Freddie Francis' cinematography and Alfred Cox's editing is among the film's other assets, especially effective in building suspense in the film's last half hour, leading up to a heartbreaking climax.
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