Spellbound

Directed by someone named John Harlow and released in America as 'The Spell of Amy Benson' so as not to be confused wih Hitchcock's masterpiece this film epitomises the worst of British cinema of the time. Apart from Felix Aylmer there is really no one worth watching. Derek Farr is one-dimensional and Hay Petrie irritating. Frederick Leister puts one in mind of a cricket bat. The 'teddibly, teddibly' acting, leaden direction and lamentable lack of pace combine to make this film a truly tortuous experience. A waste of promising material. Avoid at all costs.

OMG! This film started off slow albeit with hope. Then it slowed down some more ~ then just fizzled out all together. Obviously the writers/directors/producers et al somehow saw fit to avoid every conceivable, reasonable plot and storyline to create any kind of 'film' whatsoever. How many lame questions were left unanswered? Then this feeble piece just kind of limped off into the credits. Did the movie ever actually end? ~ 'cause I certainly missed it. Having worked in H~Wood I cannot comprehend how this empty vessel of paste was ever even created let alone invested in and then sailed through all of the flashing RED LIGHTS + DANGER signs through to the big screen. I felt so ashamed having watched it {rather having endured the 1.5 hrs. Of suffering-} that I quickly erased all traces and then took a long hot bath {and washed my hair}. I am still in therapy dealing with the PTSD. LOL Enjoy ~

I think that the other reviewer rather prefers the overstatement of todays slashers eg "Friday The 13th",to more understated horror films.During the Second world war a number of films were produced which dealt with the afterlife.the most famous being "A Matter of life And Death".People wanted to believe that their sacrifice was not in vain and that though left behind could look forward to meeting their deceased friends and relatives in the next world.This is one such film only with a rather creepy malevolent streak,very reminiscent of the films of Val Lewton which were to follow.It is true that many scenes are understated,but that was the way things were in those days.Death was common place,after all you could be killed by a bomb hitting the cinema in which you were watching it before the end of this film.You really cannot judge films of a different era by standards of today.This film was totally unknown to me before i saw it and i would say that if you are interested in the genre this is certainly worth catching up on.

Derek Farr at the beginning of his film career didn't do himself any favours with a daft and tedious storyline about spiritualism and his dead fiancée. Farr walks around stricken with grief for most of the time, looking dejected and miserable! That also sums up the mood of the audience! The acting is sub standard and the dialogue is laughable! Films like this gave the British film industry a very bad name! American films were light years ahead in producing films that had energy, excitement and great acting! This film had none of these attributes! Give this film a big miss!

This film is variously known by various titles such as 'Passing Clouds', 'The Spell of Amy Nugent", "Ghost Story", and "Spellbound". It was originally known by the last of these but when it was later released in the USA the title was revised to avoid confusion with the 1945 Hitchcock "Spellbound". I'd never heard of it before I saw it. As other reviews have noted this film is -to modern eyes- rather slow paced and something of a period piece. However to a great extent I wouldn't expect anything else; after all this film is now nearly eighty years old, much closer to the start of film as a medium than anything else. The subject matter is unfamiliar to most and the social context is quite literally another world. I think it is an interesting film because it explores a subject area which doesn't lend itself to film-making, not without dissolving into the realms of fantasy, which is largely avoided here. I've only scored it 6/10 mostly because it won't appeal to modern tastes, partly because the print that had been used for the video transfer I saw was in diabolical condition. One or two badly repaired film breaks are almost inevitable in an old print but this had at least half a dozen which I found somewhat intrusive. At least they were not at the most critical junctures. This isn't a cinematic masterpiece by any means but if you can overlook its shortcomings it is at heart a competently made and intrinsically interesting film.