Scream of Fear (1961)

... aka: Ein Toter spielt Klavier (A Dead Man Plays the Piano)

... aka: Kyôfu (Fear)

... aka: La casa del terrore (The House of Terror)

... aka: Pelon tunne (A Feeling of Fear)

... aka: Taste of Fear, A

... aka: Un grito de terror (A Scream of Terror)

Directed by:

Seth Holt

Director Seth Holt started out as an actor before transitioning into editing at Ealing Studios, where he worked as an assistant (usually sans credit) on such classics as Dead of Night (1945) and, one of my personal favorites, Kind Hearts and Coronets (1948). From there, he moved on to primary editing, producing and, finally, a single shot at directing (the crime drama Nowhere to Go) at Ealing before the studio was absorbed by the BBC in the late 1950s. While Nowhere to Go was a box office flop and critical failure, it was enough to get his foot in the door with Hammer, who hired him for Scream of Fear (originally titled Taste of Fear). Instead of suffering from a sophomore slump, Scream was both a commercial and critical success in the UK, U.S. and throughout much of Europe. Despite that, he'd have a difficult time securing directing jobs until his death and was involved in a number of projects that either ultimately got assigned to other filmmakers or were abandoned altogether.

Holt is almost exclusively known these days for a trio of genre films he was able to make with Hammer, which also included the excellent The Nanny (1965) starring Bette Davis, and the lesser but still not bad Blood from the Mummy's Tomb (1971), which he was never able to finish because he died of a sudden and unexpected heart attack at the age of just 47 (producer Michael Carreras had to step in and complete the final week of shooting). What's obvious in retrospect is that he clearly should have been given far more chances to direct than he was, and Hammer in particular should have utilized him far more than what they did.

Having spent ten years away in Italy, wheelchair-bound Penny Appleby (Susan Strasberg), who was crippled in a horse-riding accident, returns to France to stay with her estranged father (Fred Johnson). Expecting him to meet her at the airport, she's surprised to instead see he's sent his chauffeur Robert (Ronald Lewis, who also starred in William Castle's MR. SARDONICUS this same year) to retrieve her. On the drive to the family villa, Robert informs Penny that her father went away four days earlier, he doesn't know where he went, doesn't know when he'll be back and that he has recently been ill but is now apparently doing better, at least well enough to travel abroad.

Upon arriving at her new home, Penny meets her stepmother Jane (Ann Todd) for the very first time and, bucking the evil stepmother stereotype, she seems friendly, affectionate, compassionate and even a bit motherly. They've transformed the father's sitting room into a bedroom for her, purchased new furnishings, put in ramps for her chair and even installed a buzzer that rings down to the kitchen and the parents' bedroom if she ever needs anything. As for the whereabouts of the father, Jane informs her that he went out out of town on a "business deal," even though she pleaded with him not to. Seeing how he's not seen her for an entire decade, it's basically impossible for Penny to not feel just a little hurt by his absence.

Penny has recently been through a lot of trauma and is in an especially vulnerable, perhaps even emotionally unstable, state. She didn't want to leave Italy, which has been her home since her parent's divorce, but felt she had no other choice after the passing of her mother and then the death of her nurse / best friend (perhaps even lover) in a mysterious drowning accident. After losing the two closest people to her, she grew depressed and suicidal, and that's when she received a letter from her father asking for her to return to France. It doesn't take her long to regret taking him up on the offer.

Her first night there, she gets up to fix a rattling shutter, sees a candlelight flickering in the summer house across the courtyard and goes to investigate. Inside, she's startled to discover what appears to be the corpse of her father. Panicking, she tries to wheel away and ends up falling into a swimming pool. She's saved by Robert and, when she awakens, she's being tended to by local physician Dr. Pierre Gerrard (Christopher Lee), who also happens to be her father's personal doctor (and his chess buddy). Robert had made mention already that Gerrard has recently been a regular presence in the home, and he appears to be plotting something with the stepmother. Determined to prove she's not a "mental defective," Penny insists they all go to where she saw the corpse, but no body is there and everyone claims the summer house is always kept locked up, anyway.

Unlike most other victimized, weepy heroines in films like this, Penny is refreshingly not about to just roll over and play the victim. While she's emotional and a bit neurotic, she's also smart, plucky, headstrong and maintains her wits. She knows what she sees isn't a delusion, senses some scheming going on behind her back and acts accordingly, approaching everyone around her with suspicion and distrust. She snoops around. She asks questions. She refuses pills from Dr. Gerrard, starts growing a bit distant from Jane and, while Robert seems like a potential ally (and a potential love interest), she has her apprehensions about him, as well. She's also careful about giving certain characters information that may conceivably be used against her, including additional sightings of her father's corpse around the house. Strasberg is one of those actresses who usually doesn't make an overwhelmingly positive nor negative impression on me, but she's pretty wonderful in this particular role.

Though Lee spoke highly of this film and the director in interviews, and said it was perhaps Hammer's best overall production, he's interestingly the weakest link of the central cast. That's due in part to his failed attempt at a French accent and in part to the fact his character simply isn't all that interesting. Thankfully, the other three stars are all great. Lewis is extremely magnetic as the chauffeur and had all that it took to become an A List leading man. Sadly, that never happened due to his alcoholism, which eventually led to bad press, troubles with the law, divorces, bankruptcy and a damaged career, culminating in his suicide in the early 80s. Often unfairly overlooked here is Todd, who gives an excellent performance; perhaps the best performance. The way she uses subtle facial expressions and body language to show cracks beneath the surface of her warm, caring exterior tells you this woman was a complete pro.

In addition to the strong direction and acting, this excels in the screenplay department too, with fine dialogue, characterizations and plotting. Just when you think you're getting a handle on what's going on and working out who's conspiring with who to get what (a sizable inheritance is naturally at stake), Jimmy Sangster's script pulls the rug out from under you and unleashes some genuine surprises in the last 20 or so minutes. These aren't surprises pulled out of thin air either, but one's carefully built into the story. This is also a handsome looking film. Multi-BAFTA winner and three time Oscar nominee Douglas Slocombe (who'd go on to work with Steven Spielberg, Roman Polanski and other notables) does a great job shooting it, using lots of low lighting, shadows and lush soft focus. Other production people, from composer Clifton Parker to production designer Bernard Robinson, offer up strong work, as well.

This film's success led Hammer to branch out from their usual period-set classic monster movies to produce more modern psychological genre films. The initial cycle of these (there would be another in the early 70s) included Maniac, Paranoiac (both 1963), Nightmare (1964), Fanatic (aka Die! Die! My Darling!), Hysteria and the aforementioned The Nanny (all 1965). Though some of these are better than others, all of them are at least decent.

Released theatrically here in the U.S. by Columbia (who also handled the British, Canadian and Mexican releases), this then turned up on home video (with rather horrible-looking box art) by RCA / Columbia in 1989. Since, there have been quite a few Blu-ray and DVD releases, including from Sony (as part of their "Icons of Horror" series) and Mill Creek (as part of their "Hammer Horror Collection" series).

Easily besting the above is the 2019 BR release on the UK label Indicator ("Volume Four" in their Hammer line of box sets). It not only comes with three other films; THE REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1958), THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL (1960) and The Damned (1962), plus plenty of accompanying materials for each of those, but also a wealth of Scream of Fear extras. Included are over three hours of archival interview material with Sangster (some video, some audio), an 82-minute archival audio interview with Slocombe, new interviews with Desmond Davis (the camera operator) and John Crome (the assistant sound editor), a rare condensed Super 8 version, profiles on actress Todd and composer Parker, a 36-page booklet and much, much more.

★★★1/2

Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, The (1960)

... aka: Den nye Dr. Jekyll (The New Dr. Jekyll)

... aka: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

... aka: House of Fright

... aka: Il mostro di Londra (The Monster of London)

... aka: Jekyll's Inferno

... aka: O Monstro de Duas Caras (The Two-Faced Monster)

... aka: Schlag 12 in London (Strike 12 in London)

Directed by:

Terence Fisher

After their color adaptations of Dracula and Frankenstein proved to be formidable international hits, Hammer decided to tackle another famous literary classic: Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The resultant film failed to match any of their previous genre efforts. Not only were most of the reviews poor but the film actually lost the studio money despite a strong global publicity push. As for why the film flopped, there are number of factors that probably contributed.

One could obviously point to the fact it wasn't well received by critics, but the same could be said for previous Hammer hits, which saw mixed reception at the time. One could also theorize that since the Stevenson tale had already been adapted, and adapted very well, countless times prior that audiences were just not all that interested in yet another version. A 1920 silent starring John Barrymore, a 1931 Paramount production with an Oscar-winning turn by Frederic March and a big budget 1941 MGM release starring some of Hollywood's biggest stars (Spencer Tracy, Ingrid Bergman, Lana Turner...), which had also been nominated for three Oscars, were just a few of dozens of Jekyll films made in the decades prior.

In addition to the myriad film adaptations, there were also stage plays, radio dramas (including one with Laurence Olivier in the title role) and at least two TV versions (one starring Michael Rennie), that were released in the few years leading up. Not only that, but Hammer had just produced a comedic spin on the story called The Ugly Duckling that was released one year earlier! Still, I doubt overexposure is really what did the film in, especially seeing how Jekyll was no more overdone than Dracula or Frankenstein. I'd say the primary reason for the film's box office failure is the simple fact that it's highly uneven, though there are some fascinating subtextual elements at play to somewhat compensate.

Curiously cast in the lead is the unknown Paul Massie, who was only in his late 20s at the time. Born and raised in Canada and trained in the theater, the handsome and silken-voiced Massie began his short-lived film and TV career in England just two years before landing the starring role here. In that short time, he'd won a Most Promising Newcomer BAFTA Award for his performance in the war drama Orders to Kill (1958), so his casting was clearly a case of Next Big Thing Syndrome... and we know how that usually goes. Here today. Gone tomorrow. Such is showbiz. Hammer, who had a tradition of circular casting, would never use him again and this would be one of the few lead roles he'd ever get. With his screen career floundering, he eventually relocated to the United States and taught acting at the University of South Florida. Based on some of the reviews, his performance here seems to be pretty polarizing. Even some of the Hammer experts on the Blu-ray special features criticize him!

In his "normal" form, Dr. Henry Jekyll is obsessive, sickly, awkward, reclusive, soft-spoken and sometimes cruel; referring to deaf-mute children as "dumb human animals" (!) in one scene. Massie has has been given a fake beard, fake bushy eyebrows and a slathering of pallid make-up to try to make him appear middle aged and weathered but it's not an entirely convincing look.

Henry has been shunned by the scientific community save for a single colleague - Dr. Ernst Litauer (David Kossoff) - who still pops in from time to time to check on him. As with most other mad scientists, he spends his days and nights slaving away in his lab. Usually in these type of films, the scientist has noble goals like extending human life, curing cancer, perfecting limb or organ transplants or something of that sort, but here he's not necessarily interested in the betterment of mankind. His experiments involve creating a formula that will reduce man to a more primitive and animalistic state. Giving the serum to a lab monkey makes it go ballistic, but Henry assures Ernst it will return to normal in 4 hours.

Henry is involved in a cold, unhappy marriage with Kitty (Dawn Addams). While he's antisocial and prefers quiet nights at home, she fancies herself a social butterfly and loves getting dolled up in gowns to (she claims) attend high society functions (actually trips to a disreputable club / dance hall). As for hubby, well, he's not invited. Though she's aware of his physical and mental decline, and shows at least a little concern for his well-being, Kitty has all but checked out of the marriage and swiftly rebukes any attempt to rekindle things. That's because she's already moved on in the romance department with the loathsome Paul Allen (Christopher Lee); one of Henry's supposed friends. When the utterly shameless Paul isn't romancing his wife, he's at their home leeching money that he spends on booze, gambling and ladies.

After Kitty refuses to spend the evening with Henry, he decides to finally inject some of his serum. Instead of turning him into outright monster, this twists the story around by making him take on a dapper, confident and suave ladies man persona. He loses the excessive facial hair, takes on a more youthful appearance and starts craving debauchery. Taking on the identity of Edward Hyde, Henry becomes a regular at the nightclub, where he seems to have his pick of women. He learns his wife and friend have both stabbed him in the back and, since his transformation has made him unrecognizable, he's able to play into that to bait them. However, Kitty seems to be the only woman to reject his advances even in his new and "improved" state! Though Paul is an irredeemable lout, and hardly faithful to her, she's still in love with him.

Several other issues with the drug complicate matters further: The more polished, outgoing and hedonistic new persona comes with a violent streak that finds Henry / Edward abusing and berating women (including one who falls in love with him), stomping out a bum, knocking a little girl (Janina Faye) to the ground, beating a bully (played by a young, uncredited Oliver Reed) over the head with a candlestick and eventually indulging in murder. There's also a physical price to pay here. As the warring personas switch back and forth, and overexert themselves for control over the body, Henry's health rapidly deteriorates.

Norma Marla provides some more adult-oriented material as nightclub entertainer Maria. Dressed in a skimpy two piece costume, she performs an act which culminates with her suggestively putting a python head in her mouth. She also provides some coy, though still risqué for 1960, bare back / side of breast nudity. Surprisingly, the film has even more adult content on offer, like minor profanity, rape and even a scene of Lee and Massie getting high in an opium den! The exotic-looking and thick-accented Marla, who was apparently born in Rhodesia, had been hired by Hammer to do a summer publicity tour, which found her traveling around the U. S. with a sarcophagus in tow to promote their version of The Mummy, though she's not actually in the film herself. She would only appear in two movies: This and the aforementioned Ugly Duckling.

Too many commentators to mention have suggested that Lee should have played Jekyll / Hyde, but I completely disagree. For starters, he's perfect playing the smarmy, arrogant, manipulative supporting character and I doubt anyone in the Hammer stable could have played this part as well. Second, he'd go on to more or less play the part in the later I, Monster (1971), anyway. In a less showy, though no less dramatic role, the lovely Addams matches him. What Massie brings to the table is a bit more uneven. Though he has a tendency to bug the eyes out in the more intense moments, and his alternating the deep, hoarse Jekyll voice with his normal, clear voice is unintentionally funny at times, he does manage to inject a little bit of heart into a film otherwise filled with incredibly unlikable, sleazy and self-interested characters.

As per Hammer's usual, this is generally well-made, nicely shot by the ever-reliable Jack Asher with beautiful saturated colors and boasts sumptuous period production design, with excellent sets, costumes and props to vividly capture turn of the century London. Though the three leads are the only ones really given much of interest to do here, small roles are also played by Francis De Wolff (police inspector who shows up at the very end) and Walter Gotell (an uncredited bit part as a gambler with one line of dialogue).

After playing theatrically in England and other European countries in 1960, this made its way to the U. S. the following year and was released under two different titles: House of Fright and Jekyll's Inferno. The film saw drastic cuts to remove some of the more questionable content in many markets and some of the harsher language was also over-dubbed. It made its belated VHS debut here in 1995 on the Columbia TriStar label, reverting to its original Two Faces title though still utilizing a cut print. In 2008, Sony offered the uncut version for the very first time on DVD in a four film set as part of their "Icons of Horror" collection. In 2015, Mill Creek released bare bones DVD and Blu-ray versions. That was followed by a Blu-ray from the UK label Indicator, who have included archival interviews with Massie and screenwriter Wolf Mankowitz, a commentary track and various featurettes.

★★1/2