Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn

The film is set in the Victorian 1820s in a rural area of England. Maria Marten (Sophie Stewart) is generally a sweet woman but gets herself mixed up with the wrong man with promises of marriage, becomes pregnant and then she comes up missing - murdered.

This one isn't too bad. It's not Tod Slaughter's best film but it's not that bad of a movie. It's Slaughter's first acting role on-screen and he wasn't to bad in it either. The screenplay is kinda bland, decent but bland. The whole film feels like they could have added a darker and more mysterious atmosphere to the Victorian appeal.

I did enjoy this film. Some of the acting is over-the-top and they have some pretty funny lines at times - sometimes seemingly strong language for the time period this was filmed in (1935) which worked in the film's favor.

6/10

Of all Tod Slaughter's films, this horror-melodrama about a young girl brought to disgrace by a local squire easily is my favourite. Slaughter plays Squire William Corder, infatuated with a young Maria who is also admired greatly by a roaming gypsy named Carlos(Carlos is very English, however). Squire Corder consentually has his way with Maria, she later becomes pregnant, and Corder kills Maria in the Red Barn to quiet her so he can continue on with his own marriage plans for some much needed capital in order to pay off his gambling debts. Slaughter is a sight for the sorest of eyes. They just do not cut ham this thick anymore! He rolls his eyes, leers, laughs maniacally with the best, and he also has the greatest ability to be totally likable no matter what variety of fiend he plays. At one point in a scene where Maria confronts Corder about needing his help for these very trying circumstances, Slaughter delivers lines like, "No, don't speak" with relish I just have not seen in film very often. Every line Slaughter says seems to come to life and yet we seem to be in on the joke with him. This is a great piece not so much for the mystery...really is no mystery...but simply to watch an actor who should get more credit than he does act like no other. Great fun, great laughs, great Slaughter!

Compact, entertaining thriller concerning a pompous aristocrat who, following a brief moment of ecstasy with an impressionable young farmer's girl, discovers he's responsible for an unwanted foetus. Tod Slaughter plays the immoral Mr Corder, under financial pressure due to gambling, being threatened by his dalliance now up the duff and in the mood to tell all to her father, who'll surely kill Corder for sullying the family name. What to do but a murder in the red barn.

Well told, straightforward without complications or surprises, just a decent little tale (based on a true event) that showcases stage actor Slaughter's adept villainy, and that of younger Eric Portman in one of his first pictures as the chivalrous Gypsy enamoured by Sophie Stewart's damsel in distress. The cast is immaculate and the inimitable producer George King delivers his usual pint-for-a-pound pulling no punches despite limited resources.

While it's 1935, there's no disguising the atrocious nature of the title crime, and this element along with Slaughter's portrayal of the corpulent, depraved and cowardly ogre is more than just a little unsettling at times. The scene in which he's goaded to "dig, dig" is quite chilling, and the conclusion thereafter is entirely fitting. Worth a look.

Until a few weeks ago, I had never even heard of Tod Slaughter. Now I have got to see three of his films and I absolutely love him. He is the master of pomposity. He has virtually no moral sense. In all three films, he frolics with much younger women. He has no qualms about bumping off anyone that gets in his way. In this film, he is a squire who has run up some sizable gambling debts. He has been wooing a local man's daughter, for obvious reasons. She is even willing to marry him, but he needs money, so, instead, he becomes engaged to the ugly daughter of a rich man. To seal things up, he must kill the attractive young woman and then cover his tracks. No one believes the young gypsy man who figures things out. There is a lot of classism going on. He is one of the haves and the have nots must curtsy to him. When Slaughter is on the screen he is absolutely dominating. I'm now hoping to locate some more. This is a bleak but intense film. The setting is wonderful, in the stultifying country, with its secrets. What a cad!

Squire William Corder wins the charms of an innocent country maiden, despite the attention she receives from Carlos, a gypsy. Corder seduces Maria and, after she becomes pregnant by him, he murders her in the red barn before burying her body there.

Decent melodrama set in the 19th Century, with a typically over the top performance by Tod Slaughter, so those familiar with his films will know what to expect. Sophie Stewart is the tragic Maria and there is an early role for Eric Portman as Carlos.