Murder By Proxy – 1955

A Hammer production released by Exclusive Films (UK) and Lippert Films (USA)
Copyright 1953 by Exclusive Films Ltd.
All characters in this photoplay are fictitious and bear no resemblance to any real person, living or dead
RCA Sound System
Produced at Exclusive Studios, Bray, England
Black & White 87 minutes
Storyline
Hopelessly drunk in a London night-club, American Casey Morrow is approached by a beautiful young woman who offers him five hundred pounds if he will marry her. The next morning, he wakes in a strange flat and finds Maggie Doone washing bloodstains from his coat. He has no idea what has happened, but soon finds himself suspected of murder…
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 | Renee Glynne | 27 | 3 Aug 1926 | Living | 94 | 38 |
Dialogue Director | Andrew Osborn | 43 | 9 Apr 1910 | 11 Mar 1985 | 74 | 1 |
Directed by | Terence Fisher | 49 | 23 Feb 1904 | 18 Jun 1980 | 76 | 31 |
Director of Photography | Walter Harvey Bsc | 50 | 9 Feb 1903 | 1979 | 75 | 33 |
From the novel by | Helen Nielsen | 35 | 23 Oct 1918 | 22 Jun 2002 | 83 | 1 |
Furs | Molho | 2 | ||||
Hairdresser | Nina Broe | 1993 | 10 | |||
Make-up | Phil Leakey | 45 | 4 May 1908 | 26 Nov 1992 | 84 | 48 |
Miss Lee's Gowns | Ben Pearson | 2 | ||||
Musical Director | Ivor Slaney | 32 | 27 May 1921 | 20 Mar 1998 | 76 | 11 |
Produced by | Michael Carreras | 26 | 21 Dec 1927 | 19 Apr 1994 | 66 | 83 |
Production Manager | Mickey Delamar | 46 | 1908 | 1971 | 63 | 7 |
Screenplay by | Richard Landau | 39 | 21 Feb 1914 | 18 Sep 1993 | 79 | 8 |
Sound Recording | Bill Salter | 1983 | 17 | |||
Sound Recording | George Burgess | 57 | 1897 | 1 Feb 1956 | 59 | 3 |
Wardrobe | Molly Arbuthnot | 45 | 19 Dec 1908 | 1 Nov 2001 | 92 | 48 |
Cast
Character | Actor | Age at Release | Birth | Death | Age | Hammer Appearances |
Alicia | Betty Ann Davies | 43 | 24 Dec 1910 | 14 May 1955 | 44 | 2 |
Bartender | Alfie Bass | 37 | 8 Apr 1916 | 15 Jul 1987 | 71 | 3 |
Big John | Martin Lawrence | 1 | ||||
Casey Morrow | Dane Clark | 41 | 26 Feb 1912 | 11 Sep 1998 | 86 | 3 |
Dora | Nora Gordon | 60 | 29 Nov 1893 | 11 May 1976 | 82 | 4 |
Inspector Johnson | Michael Golden | 40 | 15 Aug 1913 | 1983 | 69 | 3 |
Lance Gordon | Andrew Osborn | 43 | 9 Apr 1910 | 11 Mar 1985 | 74 | 4 |
Linda | Delphi Lawrence | 21 | 23 Mar 1932 | 11 Apr 2002 | 70 | 3 |
Lita | Alvys Maben | 32 | 1922 | 29 Sep 1963 | 41 | 3 |
Maggie Doone | Eleanor Summerfield | 32 | 7 Mar 1921 | 13 Jul 2001 | 80 | 3 |
Miss Nardis | Jill Melford | 22 | 23 Nov 1931 | 20 Feb 2018 | 86 | 3 |
Phyllis | Belinda Lee | 18 | 15 Jun 1935 | 12 Mar 1961 | 25 | 2 |
Singer | Cleo Laine | 26 | 28 Oct 1927 | Living | 93 | 1 |
Travis | Harold Lang | 30 | 1923 | 16 Nov 1970 | 47 | 8 |
Footnotes
Alfie Bass has a small part in this film. In the late 1950’s he starred in the successful Granada TV series “The Army Game”, as well as in the cinema spin-off “I Only Arsked”, which was produced by Hammer in 1959. Later appearances by him include Hammer’s “A Challenge for Robin Hood” (1967) and as the head of menswear in BBC TV’s “Are You Being Served?”
Actress Betty Ann Davies died shortly after the film was released following an appendectomy.
Details were complied viewing the actual film.
Source of viewing copy – The Hammer Graveyard Collection