Starring Peter Cushing, Yvonne Romain, Patrick Allen, Oliver Reed, Michael Ripper
Directed by Peter Graham Scott
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
In the late 1700s, the King of England sends the Navy to investigate reports of smuggling out of the small coastal town of Dymchurch, where the local reverend is secretly leading the operations.
Hammer Films offers a slice of historical fiction in their adaptation of Russell Thorndike's Doctor Syn novels, and Cushing excels in the lead role (renamed to Dr. Blyss), stern and steely-eyed when instructing his smugglers, and charming and mellifluous when acting as the priest, and dealing with the Royal Navy's Captain Collyer (played by Patrick Allen). As my friend Dan Day Jr. has pointed out, Allen had a deep resonant voice which makes him perfectly cast here as the authoritative and determined Collyer, who resorts to sometime brutal methods to search out the truth. Hammer stalwart Michael Ripper is also very good as the coffin-maker who loyally uses his craft to assist Blyss in his operations. The film was named Captain Clegg for it's British release, referring to the notorious pirate buried in Dymchurch, and perhaps related to the secret past of one of the film's characters. It was renamed for U.S. audiences Night Creatures, likely to promote the picture as a horror film, due to the skeletal phantoms that haunt Romney Marsh, which are actually only a minor part of the story's thrust. Scott does a fine job of directing, and Don Banks' score works well with the setting and the smugglers' clandestine operations.
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