Five Days

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

Red = Uncredited


Crew	Name	Age at Release	Birth	Death	Age	Hammer Credited	Hammer Uncredited	Total Hammer
Art Director	J. Elder Wills	54	26 Apr 1900	1 Jan 1970	69	22		22
Assistant Director	Jimmy Sangster	26	2 Dec 1927	19 Aug 2011	83	65	2	67
Boom Operator	Percy Britten	34	1 Oct 1919	1 Jan 1996	76		21	21
Camera Operator	Len Harris	37	19 May 1916	21 Feb 1995	78	52	1	53
Clapper Loader	Tom Friswell	24	1 Jan 1930	1 Jan 2002	72		18	18
Continuity	Splinters Deason	41	1 Jan 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	1 Jan 1979	75	34		34
Editor	James Needs	34	17 Oct 1919	4 Feb 2003	83	110	1	111
Focus Puller	Harry Oakes	33	16 Jan 1921	11 Dec 2012	91		53	53
Hairdresser	Nina Broe			1993		10		10
Ingham	Ross Hutchinson	49	6 Apr 1905	1 Jan 1986	80		1	1
Make-up	Phil Leakey	46	4 May 1908	26 Nov 1992	84	48		48
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	6	1	7
Producer	Anthony Hinds	31	18 Sep 1922	30 Sep 2013	91	84	1	85
Production Manager	John (Pinky) Green	45	14 Feb 1909	1 Jul 1978	69	7		7
Recordist	Bill Salter			1983		17		17
Special Photographic Effects	Vic Margutti	41	1 Jan 1913	1 Jan 1980	67		6	6
Still Photographer	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	23	27
Wardrobe	Molly Arbuthnot	45	19 Dec 1908	31 Oct 2001	92	48	4	52

Cast	Name	Age at Release	Birth	Death	Age	Hammer Credited	Hammer Uncredited	Total Hammer
Andrea Nevill	Thea Gregory	28	01 Jan 1926	18 Dec 2022	96	1		1
Bill	Charles Hawtrey	39	30 Nov 1914	27 Oct 1988	73	3		3
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
James Nevill	Dane Clark	42	18 Feb 1912	11 Sep 1998	86	3		3
Jan	Cecile Chevreau	37	1 Apr 1917	1 Jan 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		5
Perkins	Arnold Diamond	39	18 Apr 1915	18 Mar 1992	76	4	2	6
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	3	5

Original Poster

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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.

1954 BBFC Cert. “A”

Production Details

Stills from film

Cast & Crew

Original Poster

Footnotes