When a financial deal arranged by cavalier businessman James Nevill falls through, he faces ruin. Seeing no future for himself, he decides that the least he can do is make sure his wife is well looked after, so he blackmails an old, and shady, acquaintance into killing him; she will then be able to claim against his insurance. The murder is to take place within the next five days, but then the original business deal comes up trumps and he is financially saved. His relief is short-lived, though, when he cannot call off his proposed killer and the attempts on his life begin…
Production Details
A Hammer production released by Exclusive Films (UK) and Lippert Films (USA)
Copyright MCMLIV by Exclusive Films Ltd.
RCA Sound System
Produced at Bray Studios
Black & White 72 minutes
Filming Began: 1st November 1953
UK Release: 12th May 1954
Studio:
Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire
Stills from film
Click an image for enlarged slideshow
Cast & Crew
Cast – Complete, awaiting verification
Red = Uncredited
Crew | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | Uncredited | Total Hammer |
Art Director | J. Elder Wills | 54 | 26 Apr 1900 | 1970 | 69 | 22 | 22 | |
Assistant Director | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/jimmy-sangster/# | 26 | 2 Dec 1927 | 19 Aug 2011 | 83 | 66 | 2 | 68 |
Boom Operator | Percy Britten | 34 | 1 Oct 1919 | 1996 | 76 | 23 | 23 | |
Camera Operator | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/len-harris/# | 37 | 19 May 1916 | 21 Feb 1995 | 78 | 63 | 2 | 65 |
Clapper Loader | Tom Friswell | 24 | 1930 | 2002 | 72 | 18 | 18 | |
Continuity | Splinters Deason | 41 | 1913 | 11 Oct 2001 | 88 | 3 | 3 | |
Director | Montgomery Tully | 50 | 6 May 1904 | 10 Oct 1988 | 84 | 4 | 4 | |
Director of Photography | Walter Harvey BSc | 51 | 9 Feb 1903 | 1979 | 75 | 35 | 35 | |
Editor | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/james-needs/# | 34 | 17 Oct 1919 | 4 Feb 2003 | 83 | 113 | 1 | 114 |
Focus Puller | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/harry-oakes/# | 33 | 16 Jan 1921 | 11 Dec 2012 | 91 | 3 | 56 | 59 |
Hairdresser | Nina Broe | 1993 | 11 | 11 | ||||
Make-up | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/phil-leakey/# | 46 | 4 May 1908 | 26 Nov 1992 | 84 | 50 | 50 | |
Musical Director | Ivor Slaney | 32 | 27 May 1921 | 20 Mar 1998 | 76 | 11 | 1 | 12 |
Original Screenplay | Paul Tabori | 46 | 8 May 1908 | 9 Nov 1974 | 66 | 7 | 1 | 8 |
Presenter | Robert Lippert | 45 | 31 Mar 1909 | 16 Nov 1976 | 67 | 8 | 8 | |
Producer | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/anthony-hinds/# | 31 | 18 Sep 1922 | 30 Sep 2013 | 91 | 87 | 3 | 90 |
Production Manager | John (Pinky) Green | 45 | 14 Feb 1909 | Jul 1978 | 69 | 7 | 7 | |
Recordist | Bill Salter | 1983 | 17 | 17 | ||||
Special Photographic Effects | Vic Margutti | 41 | 1913 | 1980 | 67 | 6 | 6 | |
Still Photographer | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/john-jay/# | 33 | 14 Nov 1920 | 29 Apr 2005 | 84 | 13 | 22 | 35 |
Stunts | Peter Diamond | 24 | 10 Aug 1929 | 27 Mar 2004 | 74 | 4 | 25 | 29 |
Wardrobe | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/molly-arbuthnot/# | 45 | 19 Dec 1908 | 31 Oct 2001 | 92 | 48 | 5 | 53 |
Cast | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | Uncredited | Total Hammer |
Andrea Nevill | Thea Gregory | 28 | 1926 | 18 Dec 2022 | 96 | 1 | 1 | |
Bill | Charles Hawtrey | 39 | 30 Nov 1914 | 27 Oct 1988 | 73 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Board Member | Jim Tyson | 41 | 2 Sep 1912 | 9 Sep 1974 | 62 | 2 | 2 | |
Bowman | Peter Gawthorne | 69 | 1 Sep 1884 | 17 Mar 1962 | 77 | 1 | 1 | |
Chapter | Geoffrey Sumner | 45 | 20 Nov 1908 | 29 Sep 1989 | 80 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Cyrus McGowan | Howard Marion-Crawford | 40 | 17 Jan 1914 | 24 Nov 1969 | 55 | 1 | 1 | |
Eileen | Avis Scott | 36 | 22 Feb 1918 | 31 May 2010 | 92 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Glanville | Anthony Forwood | 38 | 3 Oct 1915 | 18 May 1988 | 72 | 6 | 6 | |
Grover - Masseur | Martin Lawrence | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
Highson | Arthur Young | 55 | 2 Sep 1898 | 14 Feb 1959 | 60 | 1 | 1 | |
Hunter | Leslie Wright | 2 | 2 | |||||
Ingham | Ross Hutchinson | 49 | 6 Apr 1905 | Jan 1986 | 80 | 1 | 1 | |
James Nevill | Dane Clark | 42 | 18 Feb 1912 | 11 Sep 1998 | 86 | 3 | 3 | |
Jan | Cecile Chevreau | 37 | 1 Apr 1917 | 1993 | 75 | 2 | 2 | |
Laughing Man in Bar | Warren Mitchell | 28 | 14 Jan 1926 | 14 Nov 2015 | 89 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
Paul Kirby | Paul Carpenter | 32 | 8 Dec 1921 | 12 Jun 1964 | 42 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
Perkins | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/arnold-diamond/# | 39 | 18 Apr 1915 | 18 Mar 1992 | 76 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
Professor | Hugo Schuster | 67 | 22 Nov 1886 | 10 Jul 1976 | 89 | 1 | 1 | |
Tough in Bar | Laurie Taylor | 35 | 13 Jul 1918 | 6 Aug 2003 | 85 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
Original Poster
Click to enlarge
Footnotes
Unusually, Howard Marion Crawford plays a Scot in this film. He is more familiar as the archetypal stiff-upper-lipped English officer and gentleman, as in Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and as Dr Petrie (Scotland Yard Commissioner Nayland Smith’s trusty sidekick) in all five of the “Fu Manchu” films starring Christopher Lee.