The Man in Black

Sid James --in a serious role -- is a rich man who practices yoga. Before a demonstration in which he simulates being dead, he warns that anyone who speaks could kill him dead. His second wife, Betty Ann Davies, makes sure of that. She is disappointed when a quarter of a million pounds is left to his daughter from his first wife, Hazel Penwarden. There's good news, though. If she goes mad before her 21st birthday, the bequest is cut to a fifth of that, Betty Ann picks it up and gets management of that. So Miss Davies and her daughter from a previous marriage, Sheila Burrell, plot to gaslight her, with the help of money-hungry Anthony Forwood.

Nice people. Miss Penwarden seems quite wacky, alternating terror with cheerfulness as people keep dying, and she has conversations with them after they become corpses. I won't say the outcome is a surprise, but it's done with such roguish black humor, that I enjoyed it.

It's based on Valentine Dyall's hit BBC radio show of the same name, and Mr. Dyall is on hand to introduce us to the people involved. At the time, Hammer Pictures, under the "Exclusive Films" distribution marque, offered several movies based on currently popular radio shows, including DICK BARTON, DETECTIVE, MEET SIMON CHERRY, and THE ADVENTURES OF P.C. 49. None lasted more than a couple of movies.

This British film begins with learning that Mr. Clavering (Sidney James) is a follower of Eastern mysticism and is married to a horrid second wife, Bertha. He knows he's dying and decides to try out a particularly difficult and dangerous stunt...to put himself into a death-like trance. He demands absolute silence...claiming it could be fatal if anyone makes any noise. During this exhibition, a painting falls off the wall...and Clavering appears to actually be dead!

When the will is read, the bulk of the estate is to be given to Clavering's daughter from his first marriage, Joan. However, Bertha and her viper-like daughter are allowed to stay in the house and the will stipulates that Bertha is to advise and oversee Joan until she reaches 21. Bertha instead decides her best route is to instead try to drive Joan mad and take the fortune for herself! To do so, she begins 'gaslighting' Joan. In other words, acts as if things are just fine and gets Joan to doubt her own sanity. To assist, is a particularly vicious thug, Victor. So what's next? See the film.

I give this film kudos for being darned clever. The script is very well written--with nice unexpected twists, a terrific ending and wonderful dialog. All in all, a nice little suspense film that manages to offer a few genuine surprises.

Based on the extremely popular BBC radio series from the thirties and forties, The Man in Black played by famously spooky voiced Valentine Dyall introduces the story. Yogi follower Sid James dies in his country pile leaving his fortune to his daughter. His wife looks for ways of disinheriting her through having her committed or worse.

Whilst you can quite easily see roughly what is going on here right from the start and it is all a bit twin set and pearls, there is much to enjoy here and a number of twists and turns to keep you guessing. It's an early Hammer film and its radio origins do rather betray it, but it makes for a pleasant hour and a half and nice to Sid James in a straight role for once.

The Man in Black is directed by Francis Searle and Searle co-writes the play with John Gilling. It stars Betty Ann Davies, Sheila Burell, Sid James, Anthony Forwood and Mollie Palmer. Music is by Frank Spencer and Rupert Grayson and cinematography by Cedric Williams.

Out of Hammer Films, this adaptation from a radio series is a tight little "Gaslight" suspenser. Story basically entails a young lady recently bequeathed her father's inheritance, who is at the mercy of scheming family members intent on ensuring she doesn't get what's rightfully hers.

The core of the plot is quickly revealed to us, so there is no pretention as to this being a supernatural dark house spooker - which is on the cards given the splendid shadowy and creaky setting of the Oakfield Towers mansion.

Story moves through a number of pleasant surprises, murder and intrigue prominent, motives straight and sketchy depending on certain characters' involvements, and thankfully the final run in has some weighty surprise value as well.

It's all very correct in dialogue and a little camp in places, but it's clever in its telling and nicely performed by the cast. 6.5/10

It's interesting to see Sid James play a straight (albeit brief) role for change in this simple little crime thriller. He is a wealthy chap with a rather venal second wife and step-daughter. His obsession with mysticism leads, one evening, to a risky experiment and it all goes wrong... We have no absence of potential culprits as his new family try to drive his daughter out of her mind so they can inherit his fortune. Betty Ann Davies is good as the scheming the wife, with Sheila Burrell likewise as her ghastly, grasping, daughter all manipulating poor old "Joan" (Hazel Penwarden) in a decently paced mystery. Sadly the ending is writ a bit large from fairly early on, and that makes it all sag a bit - maybe Francis Searle could have tightened it up by a quarter of an hour? It's still an enjoyable watch, though - with a slightly more sophisticated script (that may owe something to it's BBC radio heritage). It is rarely shown nowadays, but is worth seeing through if you encounter it.