23rd December: Harry Fordyce is the aloof and autocratic manager of the Haversham branch of the City & Colonial Bank. Intensely disliked by his staff, he is nevertheless about to have to rely on their help when a bogus insurance representative turns out to be a bank robber, who threatens the lives of his wife and son if he does not do exactly as he is told…..
Production Details
A Hammer film production released by Columbia Pictures
Copyright MCMLXI by Woodpecker Productions Limited – All rights reserved
MPAA Approved Certificate No. 19968
The characters and incidents portrayed and the name, used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the names characters or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional
From a play by Jacques Gillies
RCA Sound Recording
Produced at Bray Studios, England
Black & White 73 mins
Filming Began: 4th April 1961
UK Release: 15th December 1963
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 Credits | Uncredited | Total Hammer | |
Art Director | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/don-mingaye/# | 34 | 1929 | 8 Nov 2017 | 88 | 28 | 15 | 43 | |
Assistant Director | John Peverall | 32 | 1931 | 3 Oct 2009 | 78 | 21 | 21 | ||
Associate Producer | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/anthony-nelson-keys/# | 52 | 13 Nov 1911 | 19 Mar 1985 | 73 | 41 | 41 | ||
Camera Operator | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/len-harris/# | 47 | 19 May 1916 | 21 Feb 1995 | 78 | 53 | 2 | 55 | |
Casting | Stuart Lyons | 35 | 1928 | 23 Feb 1998 | 70 | 8 | 8 | ||
Clapper Loader | Alan McDonald | 25 | 1938 | 01.01.1938 | 86 | 14 | 14 | ||
Construction Manager | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/arthur-banks/# | 19 | 29 | 48 | |||||
Continuity | Tilly Day | 60 | 1903 | 1994 | 91 | 14 | 1 | 15 | |
Director | Quentin Lawrence | 43 | 6 Nov 1920 | 9 Mar 1979 | 58 | 2 | 2 | ||
Director of Photography | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/arthur-grant/# | 48 | 1915 | 1972 | 57 | 33 | 33 | ||
Editor | Eric Boyd-Perkins | 46 | 1917 | 4 Dec 2014 | 97 | 10 | 10 | ||
Executive Producer | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/michael-carreras/# | 35 | 21 Dec 1927 | 19 Apr 1994 | 66 | 84 | 8 | 92 | |
Focus Puller | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/harry-oakes/# | 42 | 16 Jan 1921 | 11 Dec 2012 | 91 | 53 | 53 | ||
Hair Stylist | Frieda Steiger | 59 | 29 Dec 1903 | 19 Aug 1993 | 89 | 28 | 28 | ||
Make-up Artist | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/roy-ashton/# | 54 | 16 Apr 1909 | 10 Jan 1995 | 85 | 36 | 4 | 40 | |
Music Composer | Wilfred Josephs | 36 | 24 Jul 1927 | 17 Nov 1997 | 70 | 3 | 3 | ||
Musical Supervisor | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/john-hollingsworth/# | 47 | 20 Mar 1916 | 29 Dec 1963 | 47 | 37 | 3 | 40 | |
Production Designer | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/bernard-robinson/# | 51 | 28 Jul 1912 | 2 Mar 1970 | 57 | 45 | 4 | 49 | |
Production Manager | Clifford Parkes | 38 | 10 Jul 1928 | 20.11.2014 | 87 | 12 | 12 | ||
Screenplay | Lewis Greifer | 47 | 19 Dec 1915 | 18 Mar 2003 | 87 | 1 | 1 | ||
Screenplay | David Chantler | 38 | 24 May 1925 | 13 Mar 2012 | 86 | 2 | 2 | ||
Sound Editor | Alban Streeter | 33 | 1930 | 01.01.1930 | 94 | 7 | 7 | ||
Sound Recordist | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/jock-may/# | 58 | 1905 | 8 Jan 1991 | 86 | 30 | 1 | 31 | |
Still Photographer | Tom Edwards | 1999 | 29 | 29 | |||||
Supervising Editor | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/james-needs/# | 44 | 17 Oct 1919 | 4 Feb 2003 | 83 | 110 | 1 | 111 | |
Wardrobe Mistress | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/rosemary-burrows/# | 36 | 5 | 41 | |||||
Wardrobe Supervisor | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/molly-arbuthnot/# | 54 | 19 Dec 1908 | 31 Oct 2001 | 92 | 48 | 5 | 53 | |
Cast | Name | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits | Uncredited | Total Hammer | |
Bank Customer | Graham Tonbridge | 57 | 13 May 1906 | 30 Nov 1986 | 80 | 3 | 3 | ||
Bank Customer | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/paddy-smith/# | 7 | 7 | ||||||
Collins | Charles Morgan | 54 | 21 Jul 1909 | May 1994 | 84 | 2 | 2 | ||
Detective Constable | Alan Haywood | 34 | 30 Nov 1929 | 6 Mar 1995 | 65 | 1 | 1 | ||
Fordyce | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/peter-cushing/# | 50 | 26 May 1913 | 11 Aug 1994 | 81 | 24 | 1 | 25 | |
Gore-Hepburn | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/andre-morell/# | 54 | 20 Aug 1909 | 28 Nov 1978 | 69 | 9 | 9 | ||
Harvill | https://www.hammer-graveyard.org.uk/barry-lowe/# | 38 | 1925 | 12 Dec 2011 | 86 | 6 | 2 | 8 | |
Inspector Mason | Kevin Stoney | 42 | 25 Jul 1921 | 20 Jan 2008 | 86 | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Mary Fordyce (voice) | Vera Cook | 51 | 19 Jun 1912 | 1 Jun 1996 | 83 | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
Miss Pringle | Edith Sharpe | 69 | 14 Sep 1894 | 6 Jun 1984 | 89 | 2 | 2 | ||
Pearson | Richard Vernon | 38 | 7 Mar 1925 | 4 Dec 1997 | 72 | 2 | 2 | ||
Sally | Lois Daine | 22 | 5 Dec 1941 | 5.12.1941 | 82 | 3 | 3 | ||
Sanderson | Norman Bird | 39 | 30 Oct 1924 | 22 Apr 2005 | 80 | 5 | 5 | ||
Sidewalk Santa Claus | Jimmy Cains | 1 | 1 | ||||||
Tommy Fordyce (voice) | Garath Tandy | 24 | 13 Aug 1939 | 13.08.1939 | 85 | 1 | 1 | ||
Window Cleaner | Fred Stone | 55 | 9 Jul 1908 | 8 Jul 1995 | 86 | 3 | 3 |
Original Poster
Click to enlarge
Footnotes
This taut morality play, a twist on the Scrooge story, was one of Hammer’s most underrated films and did not find its way into the British cinema until 1963. It is based on a TV play called The Gold Inside.
Director Quentin Lawrence returned to Hammer in 1965 to make The Secret of Blood Island.