Starring James Mason, Wilfrid Lawson, Mary Clare, Joyce Howard, Tucker McGuire
Directed by Leslie Arliss
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
Two young teachers find themselves stranded at the home of a cruel composer on the Scottish moors, near where a friend of theirs had disappeared a year before.
I found this to be a very accomplished and gripping film, adapted by director Arliss from a novel by Alan Kennington. Mason, playing the uncouth and disturbed Stephen Deremid, is magnetic in his role, showing signs of a sinister persona, while also hiding something more noble within. Howard plays the quiet and mousy teacher who falls in love with him, while McGuire, her otherwise man-hungry and outspoken companion, keeps her distance. The film is very well photographed by Gunther Krampf, illustrating the dangers of the storm and perilous bogs they're surrounded by, and capturing Mason and Howard in memorable closeups as she tries to peer into his soul. There's some very suspenseful scenes offset by a number of comic relief sequences, but Arliss and his cast never lost my attention.
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