Starring Andre Morell, Barbara Shelley, William Lucas, Freda Jackson, Conrad Phillips
Directed by John Gilling
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
An elderly woman's heirs scheme to murder her for her fortune, but once they've killed her off, they become paranoid that the lady's favored cat is after them for revenge.
One of the harder to find Hammer films, and it's credits don't mention the famed British studio, but from cast, to director, to the other men and women behind the camera, the involvement of Hammer veterans is unmistakable. Arthur Grant is the cinematographer, the production design is by Bernard Robinson, Roy Ashton provides the makeup, Don Weeks is the production manager, and there are several other familiar names among the crew list. Although IMDB credits The Rank Organization as the distributor, it also identifies the production having been filmed at Hammer's home and hearth, Bray Studios. The cast is excellent, with Shelley particularly fetching, at her most beautiful in my opinion as lensed by the black-and-white photography. Gilling builds some noteworthy suspense with a number of sequences where the heirs try to kill the cat in close quarters, and others where they chase after him, only to be quickly outmatched. A technique is used, to create a "cat's eye view", where it looks like they have closed in or created a tighter view of a shot from the daily rushes, but I really didn't care for this, and found it less than effective. Nonetheless, this is worthwhile find from Hammer's archives, and an enjoyable one to watch, with a worthy score from Mikis Theodorakis and the actors certainly sell their fear of the cat well.
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