The House in Marsh Road

The House in Marsh Road is directed by Montgomery Tully and adapted to screenplay by Maurice J. Wilson from the novel written by Laurence Meynell. It stars Tony Wright, Patricia Dainton, Sandra Dorne, Derek Aylward, Sam Kydd, Llewellyn Rees and Anita Sharp-Bolster. Music is by John Veale and cinematography by James Harvey.

When Jean Linton (Dainton) inherits a house in the country she hopes her hard drinking novelist husband David (Wright) will settle down and make something of himself and their marriage. However, when sultry Valerie Stockley (Dorne) arrives on the scene it's not long before David's head is turned and he begins to plot the murder of his wife. Jean is in trouble, but she has an ally, the resident poltergeist of Four Winds House...

Simplicity of plot and economical of running time and technical attributes, The House in Marsh Road should not be sought out by any "horror" fan craving poltergeist terror. This is a quaint and fun chiller for the most part, even with an air of jauntiness for the first half, in fact very much like The Uninvited (1944) in how the presence of a ghost is not seen as something to be outright feared. Then the mood for the latter stages of the play notably shifts into darker territory, here the dastardly David starts to put his plans in motion, something which signals time for the poltergeist to take a hand in proceedings. Which leads to a very good and genuinely edgy denouement at pics finale.

It never lacks for atmosphere or period flavours, or indeed for competency of performances and direction, where although it never breaks out into the upper echelons of other classic British chillers, it's still something of a "B" chiller worthy of inspection by those who don't need to be jolted out their seats. As for "Patrick the Poltergeist", he's rightly kept off screen, or is he? One scene appears to show him? Either that or a prop guy is guilty of standing in the shot? See if you can spot the moment and judge for yourself. It's just another fun part of a movie that provides gentle chills and honest entertainment. 7/10

Supernatural thriller. A woman inherits an old country house from her late aunt, and moves in with her wastrel husband. He soon begins an affair with a local woman, and before long he's plotting to murder his wife. But the resident ghost has other ideas...

Tony Wright and Patricia Dainton are good as the husband and wife, whilst Sandra Dorne is perfectly cast as the local trash he takes up with (she seemed to specialise in these sorts of roles). Nice to see popular character actor Sam Kydd as the local property developer interested in buying the house. Pretty enjoyable. 6/10.

Missing from David Pirie's filmography in 'A Heritage of Horror' (1973) despite Pirie praising director Montgomery Tully's oeuvre overall as seeming "to be impressively consistent both in style and content". This overlooked little gem anticipating 'The Night of the Eagle' resembles a Chabrol marital drama produced by Val Lewton, as a poltergeist intervenes in a serious marital spat between Tony Wright & Patricia Dainton; with Sandra Dorne as the peroxide blonde Other Woman.

Recommended.

This nicely scary little ghost story is pretty straight-forward = in plot. A husband with a sexy mistress is trying to murder his wife, and a protect= ive (family-owned) poltergeist blocks him at every attempt. But the brief summary fails to convey some fine performances and lovely atmospherics t= hat rise above what is basically a "B" - level thriller. The women take act= ing honors -- Sandra Dorne is probably at her most-enticing ripeness as the buxom blonde divorcée who lures David Linton to his doom, and she pani= cs beautifully when trapped with her lover in the doomed house; Patricia Dainton is convincing, too, as the long-suffering wife of the promiscuou= s David. Third, for comic relief, Anita Sharp-Bolster is hilarious as the Irish housekeeper, who complains about "Patrick," whom she's named after her husband "because she never sees him" either! The black and white photography is moody and penetrating, as is the haunting music of John Veale (though it gets too loud and overrides the dialogue once or twice.= ) A hard-to-find video is available from several U.S. sources, both as "Invisible Creature" and "The House in Marsh Road."

So why isn't it the House on Marsh Road instead of in? Don't know.

Patricia Dainton and Tony Wright are Jean and David Linton always down to their last British pound thanks to his drinking and not working. Suddenly Jean inherits a house from an aunt, along with 1000 pounds. Back in 1960, that was the equivalent of 21,000 pounds today.

You'd think Tony would be happy. He now has the solitude he needs to write the great British novel. However, all he does is complain. When he learns at the local pub that a real estate investor would buy the place for 6000 pounds, he wants to sell.

Jean won't hear of it. She loves the place, despite the alleged presence of Patrick, a poltergeist so-named by the maid (Anna Sharp-Bolster) who comes in to work. Patrick, she says, is there to protect the relatives of the previous owners.

Tony writes book reviews and does some work on his novel, but he can't type. He hires a sexy local woman, Valerie (Sandra Dorne) who is going through a divorce. She's not interested in him when she finds out the house is Jean's. Well, just supposing the house suddenly became his?

Good, atmospheric, short black and white film, with excellent performances and a great ending! Very entertaining.