Room to Let – 1950

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

Storyline

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!

Listen to the title music on YouTube

Crew


Function	Credited	Age at Release	Birth		Death	Age	Hammer Productions
	Click a link for more info						Credited	Uncredited	Total
Art Director	Denis Wreford	45	1905		1988	82	5		5
Ast. Director	Jimmy Sangster	22	2 Dec 1927		19 Aug 2011	83	65	2	67
Camera Operator	Peter Bryan	30	28 Sep 1919		Sep 1972	52	22		22
Casting	Prudence Sykes						11	2	13
Continuity	Renee Glynne	23	3 Aug 1926		6 Apr 2022	95	38	3	41
Cutter	Alfred Cox	25	1925		2005	80	21	4	25
Director	Godfrey Grayson	36	2 Aug 1913		1 Jun 1998	84	11		11
Director of Photog.	Cedric Williams	37	1913		1999	85	7		7
Dress Designer	Myra Cullimore						1		1
Editor	James Needs	30	17 Oct 1919		4 Feb 2003	83	110	1	111
Hair Stylist	Monica Hustler	24	1 Jan 1926	01.01.1926		97	18		18
Make-up	Phil Leakey	42	4 May 1908		26 Nov 1992	84	48		48
Music Composed & Conducted by	Frank Spencer	38	19 Jun 1911		Feb 1975	63	21	1	22
Producer	Anthony Hinds	27	18 Sep 1922		30 Sep 2013	91	84	1	85
Production Manager	Arthur Barnes	64	1986		1956	69	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	21		21

Cast


Character	Actor	Age at Release	Birth	Death	Age	Hammer Productions
						Credited	Uncredited	Total
Alice	Merle Tottenham	49	22 Jan 1901	18 Jul 1958	57	2		2
Atkinson	John Clifford	59	1 Jan 1891			1	2	3
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		3
Editor	Laurence Naismith	41	14 Dec 1908	5 Jun 1992	83	2		2
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	3		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
PC 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
Uncredited
Night Watchman	Archie Callum					1		1
Orderley	H Hamilton-Earle					1		1

Production


FILMING BEGAN	1 Oct 1949
UK RELEASE	15 May 1950
STUDIO	Oakley Court Hotel, Oakley Green, Windsor, Berkshire

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.

Details were complied viewing the actual film.
Source of viewing copy – The Hammer Graveyard Collection