The Spaniard's Curse

This tepid and lacklustre British movie is largely forgotten and deservedly so.It wholly lacks merit.

The story gets underway when a man ,wrongly condemned for murder and sentenced to death ,curses the judge ,jury and prosecuting counsel from the courtroom before being lead away .Soon afterwards the foreman of the jury dies in a road accident and the condemned man perishes of a heart attack before sentence can be carried out .The judge's daughter is not convinced of the man's guilt and delves into the case with the aid the brother of the murdered woman and her own brother ,a dissolute journalist .

The performances -apart from Michael Horden as the judge -are lightweight and stodgy ,with the ultra genteel vocal tones of early fifties British cinema predominating .The monochrome photography is dull and the story frankly dull Poor and best left to gather dust except as an example of the kind of low budget "quota quickie" made in response to legislation requiring a certain percentage of movies shown in UK cinemas to be British made and that resulted in much dross -like this -getting made

A man by the name of Fredericks is found guilty of the murder of young woman Zoe Trevor, when The Judge sums up the case, Fredericks places a Spanish case on those that found him guilty.

My expectation weren't particularly high, I had a serviceable pot boiler in mind, and to some degree that's exactly what it is, but there are some really nice touches, which make this film stand out from the crowd.

It's a fast moving film, it's well paced and even, it doesn't lull in the middle. It's very atmospheric, with some very interesting characters. The music works very well, there's a nifty little tune to look out for, it plays a big part.

I loved the whole idea of the curse being used, it gave the film a slightly different flavour, perhaps they could have taken that concept a little further than they did.

Not without a few touches of humour too, some of it was definitely tongue in cheek.

Some of the dialogue was a little clunky at times, and those accidents were wonderfully 1950's BBC.

That's quite possibly the first time I've ever seen anyone wearing a dressing gown with a matching Cravatte, that really was quite something, all I kept thinking was stylish, but hazardous.

The ending sequences are wonderfully dramatic, with quite a shocking twist.

Well acted, I thought the whole cast out in very strong performances.

Surprisingly good.

8/10.

'The Spaniard's Curse' is no masterpiece, its an easily forgotten 'thriller' with an unbelievable plot and no real pace but despite this i still love it.

It is lovable in its stupidity without realisation much like my passion for Bollywood films with their over the top zoom-ins and backlit beauties with hair blowing in the wind. 'The Spandiard's Curse' presents an over-the-top London where all people either speak the Queen's English or Cockney Ryhming Slang, a world where a ancient curse can be used to murder people and a world where people can seriously wear a bathrobe with a cravat.

There are also a few moments of genuine quality here, I like the scene where the murderer runs through how 'the murderer' would have done the crime - a stunning moment of good performance - stunning because for a brief moment you realize this guy can act and really should be doing something better. I also like the ending because it certainly is surprising and actually gives the film a kind of resonance it was otherwise lacking.

Overall a great film that you really must see to understand its appeal.