To help make ends meet, the Musgrave family decides to rent out one of their rooms. A lodger arrives in the shape of Doctor Fell, a grim, rather menacing man, who soon begins to dominate the household. As time passes, his increasingly peculiar behaviour, together with the map of Whitechapel and the surgical instruments found in his room, raises suspicions that the Musgraves have none other than Jack the Ripper living in their house!
Production Details
A Hammer production released by Exclusive Films
United Programmes Sound System
Adapted from the B.B.C. feature by Margery Allingham
Black & White 63 minutes
Filming Began: 1st October 1949
UK Release: 15th May 1950
Studio:
Oakley Court Hotel, Oakley Green, Windsor, Berkshire
Stills from film
Click an image for enlarged slideshow
Cast & Crew
Crew – Believed complete
Red = Uncredited
Crew | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | Uncredited | Total Hammer | |
Art Director | Denis Wreford | 45 | 1905 | 1988 | 83 | 5 | 5 | ||
Assistant Director | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/jimmy-sangster/# | 22 | 2 Dec 1927 | 19 Aug 2011 | 83 | 66 | 2 | 68 | |
Camera Operator | Peter Bryan | 30 | 28 Sep 1919 | Sep 1972 | 52 | 28 | 28 | ||
Casting | Prudence Sykes | 11 | 2 | 13 | |||||
Continuity | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/renee-glynne/# | 23 | 3 Aug 1926 | 6 Apr 2022 | 95 | 41 | 3 | 44 | |
Cutter | Alfred Cox | 25 | 1925 | 2005 | 80 | 21 | 5 | 26 | |
Director | Godfrey Grayson | 36 | 2 Aug 1913 | 1 Jun 1998 | 84 | 11 | 11 | ||
Director of Photography | Cedric Williams | 37 | 1913 | 1999 | 86 | 7 | 7 | ||
Dress Designer | Myra Cullimore | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Editor | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/james-needs/# | 30 | 17 Oct 1919 | 4 Feb 2003 | 83 | 113 | 1 | 114 | |
Hair Stylist | Monica Hustler | 22 | 21 Nov 1927 | 21.11.1927 | 97 | 18 | 18 | ||
Make-up | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/phil-leakey/# | 42 | 4 May 1908 | 26 Nov 1992 | 84 | 50 | 50 | ||
Music Composed & Conducted by | Frank Spencer | 38 | 19 Jun 1911 | Feb 1975 | 63 | 22 | 1 | 23 | |
Producer | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/anthony-hinds/# | 27 | 18 Sep 1922 | 30 Sep 2013 | 91 | 87 | 3 | 90 | |
Production Manager | Arthur Barnes | 64 | 1886 | 1956 | 70 | 20 | 20 | ||
Recordist | Edgar Vetter | 37 | 27 Jan 1913 | 15 Dec 1988 | 75 | 15 | 15 | ||
Screenplay | Godfrey Grayson | 36 | 2 Aug 1913 | 1 Jun 1998 | 84 | 11 | 11 | ||
Screenplay | John Gilling | 37 | 29 May 1912 | 22 Nov 1984 | 72 | 19 | 19 | ||
Cast | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | Uncredited | Total Hammer | |
Alice | Merle Tottenham | 49 | 22 Jan 1901 | 18 Jul 1958 | 57 | 2 | 2 | ||
Atkinson | John Clifford | 59 | 1891 | 1 | 1 | ||||
Butler | F.A. Williams | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Curly Minter | Jimmy Hanley | 31 | 22 Oct 1918 | 13 Jan 1970 | 51 | 2 | 2 | ||
Doctor Fell | Valentine Dyall | 43 | 7 May 1907 | 24 Jun 1985 | 78 | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
Editor | Laurence Naismith | 41 | 14 Dec 1908 | 5 Jun 1992 | 83 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Harding | Aubrey Dexter | 52 | 29 Mar 1898 | 2 May 1958 | 60 | 1 | 1 | ||
J.J. | J.A. La Penna | 32 | 22 Apr 1918 | 27 Jan 2011 | 92 | 1 | 1 | ||
Mansfield | Cyril Conway | 36 | 1 Jun 1913 | 1992 | 78 | 1 | 1 | ||
Matron | Harriet Petworth | 60 | 17 Nov 1889 | 1982 | 92 | 1 | 1 | ||
Mike Atkinson | Charles Hawtrey | 35 | 30 Nov 1914 | 27 Oct 1988 | 73 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Molly Musgrave | Constance Smith | 22 | 22 Jan 1928 | 30 Jun 2003 | 75 | 1 | 1 | ||
Mrs Musgrave | Christine Silver | 65 | 17 Dec 1884 | 23 Nov 1960 | 75 | 2 | 2 | ||
Night Watchman | Archie Callum | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Orderly | H Hamilton-Earle | 1 | 1 | ||||||
P.C. Smith | Charles Mander | 25 | 17 Aug 1924 | Jul 1999 | 74 | 1 | 1 | ||
Porter | Stuart Saunders | 41 | 9 Apr 1909 | 4 Jan 1988 | 78 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Sergeant | Reginald Dyson | 55 | 13 May 1895 | 6 Apr 1963 | 67 | 2 | 2 | ||
Tom | Charles Houston | 19 | 1931 | 2006 | 75 | 5 | 5 |
Footnotes
The cast includes Charles Hawtrey, who became one of the stalwarts of the “Carry On” films. He also appeared for Hammer in Five Days (1954).
Three more names appear in Hammer credits for the first time here – John Gilling, Jimmy Sangster and James Needs, the Editor who was to piece together most of their great shock sequences.
This is Jimmy Hanley’s only appearance for Hammer, he died in 1970 the same year that his daughter, Jenny Hanley, made her only appearance for Hammer in Scars of Dracula.