Crow Hollow

This was made in the day when men were rational and women were either hysterical or dotty. For example, the part of Doctor Robert Amour played by Donald Houston is portrayed as the rational, sane and logical man, against his wife, the irrational hysterical, weak woman. Similarly the doctor's aunts are portrayed as dotty eccentrics with unusual hobbies.

Of course these are women's stereotypes, which through the medium of cinema helped to shape attitudes toward women in the public's mind. This is the power of cinema.

In the end though the film illustrates that the doctor's wife was indeed perfectly rational and sane, with a lot of guts in a dangerous situation. Everything turns out...... well let's not spoil it.

Overall a nice mystery film with a fabulous old house feel. It's full of suspense albeit played through the idea of women stereotypes. Nevertheless it's worth a look for fans of mystery and suspense.

Based on the 1950 novel by Dorothy Eden. A newly wed, young couple move into the husband's large family home, populated by his three dotty aunties and a mysterious maid. Before long the young bride is fearing for her life. Some reviews complain of it being slow but I certainly did not find that to be the case. For a start it's only 70 minutes long, but I found the characters all interesting & well acted. Plenty of atmosphere & some good scenes of suspense. Crow Hollow is my sort of house!

I am 70 years of age and my family had our first t.v. (a "Murphy" 12" one channel BBC only) in 1954.I can still remember seeing Nora Nicholson playing her specialised role of a dotty old woman from those days in similar mystery plays.Esma Cannon another eccentric actress was an Australian who I first recognised playing a comic seamstress, "Lill" in the sit-com "The Rag Trade" in the early sixties.

The other reviewers have adequately commented on "Crow Hollow" (1952) and I see no reason to dispute their comments nor the official IMDb.com. rating which I would describe as adequate.The screen play writer & director very properly held back the solution of the mystery of who murdered the character maid "Willow" until the last reel; and why our dark brunette, newly married heroine's life had been previously threatened.Yes I too thought it reasonably well acted and I stayed the course to award it an rating of 6/10.

You have to hand it to British audiences and producers in the 40's, 50's and 60's, they loved their murder mysteries, some were terrible, some iconic, fortunately for a whodunnit addict like myself there are still so many gems to discover.

Today I found Crow Hollow, and it is partly what you'd expect from a 1950's British mystery, The House is creaky, the characters are eccentric, everyone is in the exact place you'd expect them to be for the time, with the exception of Esma Cannon, Aunt Judith, who's a spider loving crazy Aunt, an actress I've always adored in comedy, she's fun to watch as always.

It's generally well acted, engaging, and certainly an entertaining watch. I wouldn't call it a classic, but I really enjoyed, 8/10

Talky but well acted English murder mystery that takes place in a large old country estate house. There is some suspense here but it's slow moving. Natasha Parry, who portrays the sweet & innocent new bride, is beautiful & also is a good actress, which is a bonus! Notable for its almost all-female cast. While I watched this film, I thought it was made 1940-1945 (even the hair styles convey this period), so I would have to call it somewhat old fashioned even for its time. Enjoyable, nonetheless.