Crow Hollow

CROW HOLLOW (1952 Movie)

6 out of 10 stars Time to Read: 2:10 min

BASIC PLOT: Robert (Donald Houston) and Anne (Natasha Parry) have had a magical, whirlwind romance. They met and married within a week, with no regrets.

But now the real work begins. Robert is a physician who's residency in London is now over. He's moving back home to set up his practice, and housekeeping with Anne. He lives at an estate called Crow Hollow with his three aunts, and a maid named Willow.

Anne is bursting with exuberance about her new life with Robert, until she arrives at his family's Manor House. Crow Hollow is not what she imagined, and neither are the people in it. The aunts are strange, and the atmosphere of the house is off-putting.

Robert was orphaned young, and raised by his grandfather. Crow Hollow was left to him, on the condition he take care of his three spinster aunts. There's Judith (Esma Cannon), the naturalist, who collects poisonous creatures and plants. There's Opal (Nora Nicholson), who seems to have an odd relationship with Willow (Patricia Owens), the maid. And then there's Hester (Susan Richmond), who seems to be obsessed with soup.

Anne is not made to feel welcome at Crow Hollow. The smiles are masks, hiding dark machinations, leaving Anne feeling perplexed. Why would they wish her to feel uncomfortable? Robert thinks she is reading too much into the small insinuations, but soon, her fears cannot be ignored. She knows someone is trying to kill her, but who?

WHAT WORKS: *GREAT LOW BUDGET ATMOSPHERIC For being made in such lean times in the UK, this really shines. They use wide shots of the house, the train, and the cawing of the crows, to provide an erie sense of isolation and dread. There is an air of disquiet and creepiness, which is at the heart of any great atmospheric.

*THERE ARE PLENTY OF SUSPECTS, AND NO EASY ANSWERS I did not know who the killer was until the reveal, and that is a rarity for me. I usually have everything worked out in the first twenty minutes, but not here. It literally could have been anybody, or everybody, and that is the mark of a quality mystery.

*OTHER REVIEWERS THINK THIS WAS SLOW I disagree. It was an hour and ten minutes, it felt more like a ninety minute movie, and that's a compliment. It's a slow burn mystery, with many reveals. I find it so sad these kids have ruined their imagination, and attention span with their stupid devices.

*THERE'S SOME BEAUTIFUL FILMMAKING HERE some lovely shots, utilizing a lot out of a little. A credit to the director Michael McCarthy and cinematographer Robert LaPresle.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *I KNOW THIS IS BRITISH, BUT THE ROMANCE BETWEEN ROBERT AND ANNE COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER Robert (Donald Houston) and Anne (Natasha Parry) have had a whirlwind romance. I believe in such things, but I also believe passion is at the core of these relationships. We only see a hint of fire between these two, and that's a shame. It would have enhanced the story to see more. (I get it's not shown due to the era, and their Britishness).

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *I would definitely recommend this to fans of mysteries, to fans of slow burn atmospherics, and to those who enjoy watching a lot being made from a little. It takes real talent to make something this enjoyable on so small a budget, but they succeeded beautifully.

CLOSING NOTES: *THIS IS AN EXTREMELY LOW BUDGET MOVIE, please keep that in mind before you watch/rate it. Movies from right after the war in the UK, have a much lower budget, and so your expectations should be adjusted.

*I HAVE NO CONNECTION TO THE FILM, or production in ANY way. This review was NOT written in full, or in part, by a bot. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews (less trolls and fanboys), and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.

It's pretty slow much of the time, but this is a decent mystery story that has enough atmosphere and suspense to hold your interest. The story starts with a young bride coming to live with her husband at "Crow Hollow", which is dominated by his three aunts, none of whom are ideal in-laws. Gradually she realizes that her situation is not just unpleasant, but hazardous. It has quite a low-budget look to it, but the characters are interesting enough, and one detail that is done well is the presence of the many crows on the family property, whose constant racket parallels the anxiety building up inside the main characters. It might have been better if the first part had moved much more quickly, because they spent a lot more time setting up everything than they did with the actual mystery. But for a low-budget mystery, it's not bad at all.

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

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.

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.