Five Days – 1954

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
Storyline
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…
Watch the trailer on YouTube
Crew
Function | Credited | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Credits |
Art Director | J. Elder Wills | 53 | 26 Apr 1900 | 1970 | 69 | 22 |
Assistant Director | Jimmy Sangster | 26 | 2 Dec 1927 | 19 Aug 2011 | 83 | 65 |
Camera Operator | Len Harris | 37 | 19 May 1916 | 21 Feb 1995 | 78 | 52 |
Continuity | Splinters Deason | 41 | 1 Jan 1913 | 11 Oct 2001 | 88 | 3 |
Directed by | Montgomery Tully | 49 | 6 May 1904 | 10 Oct 1988 | 84 | 4 |
Director of Photography | Walter Harvey Bsc | 50 | 9 Feb 1903 | 1979 | 75 | 34 |
Editor | James Needs | 34 | 17 Oct 1919 | 2003 | 83 | 110 |
Hairdresser | Nina Broe | 1993 | 10 | |||
Make-up | Phil Leakey | 45 | 4 May 1908 | 26 Nov 1992 | 84 | 48 |
Musical Director | Ivor Slaney | 32 | 27 May 1921 | 20 Mar 1998 | 76 | 11 |
Original Screenplay by | Paul Tabori | 45 | 8 May 1908 | 9 Nov 1974 | 66 | 6 |
Produced by | Anthony Hinds | 31 | 18 Sep 1922 | 30 Sep 2013 | 91 | 84 |
Production Manager | John (Pinky) Green | 44 | 14 Feb 1909 | 1 Jul 1978 | 69 | 7 |
Recordist | Bill Salter | 17 |
Cast
Character | Actor | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Appearances | |
Andrea Nevill | Thea Gregory | 25 | 1926 | 96 | 1 | ||
Bill | Charles Hawtrey | 39 | 30 Nov 1914 | 27 Oct 1988 | 73 | 3 | |
Cyrus McGowan | Howard Marion-Crawford | 39 | 17 Jan 1914 | 24 Nov 1969 | 55 | 1 | |
Glanville | Anthony Forwood | 38 | 3 Oct 1915 | 18 May 1988 | 72 | 6 | |
Highson | Arthur Young | 55 | 2 Sep 1898 | 14 Feb 1959 | 60 | 1 | |
James Nevill | Dane Clark | 41 | 18 Feb 1912 | 11 Sep 1998 | 86 | 3 | |
Jan | Cecile Chevreau | 36 | 1 Apr 1917 | 1 Jan 1993 | 75 | 2 | |
Paul Kirby | Paul Carpenter | 32 | 8 Dec 1921 | 12 Jun 1964 | 42 | 5 |
Production
FILMING BEGAN | 1 November 1953 | |
UK RELEASE | 12 May 1954 | |
STUDIO | Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England |
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.
Details were complied viewing the actual film.
Source of viewing copy – The Hammer Graveyard Collection