The Shadow of the Cat

A female house cat sees her mistress murdered by her husband and two servants, and becomes ferociously bent on revenge.

Original trailer

Production Details

A John Penington Production presented by B.H.P.Films
Copyright MCMLXI by B.H.P. Films Ltd. All rights reserved
MPAA Approved

All characters and incidents portrayed, and the names used herewith are ficticious and the similarity to any names, characters or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional

Westrex Sound System
A B.H.P. Film produced at Bray Studios, England
Black & White 86 mins

Filming dates: 14th November – 21st December 1960
UK Release: 1st May 1961

Studio:
Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire

Stills from film

Click an image for enlarged slideshow

Cast & Crew

Cast & Crew – Verified complete

CREW	NAME	CREDITED	AGE AT RELEASE	BIRTH	Hidden	DEATH	AGE	CREDITS	UNCREDITED	TOTAL HAMMER
Art Director	Don Mingaye	Yes	32	1929		8 Nov 2017	88	28	15	43
Assistant Costume Designer	Yvonne Blake	No	21	17 Apr 1940		17 Jul 2018	78		3	3
Assistant Director	John Peverall	Yes	30	1931		3 Oct 2009	78	21		21
Camera Operator	Len Harris	Yes	44	19 May 1916		21 Feb 1995	78	63	2	65
Casting	Stuart Lyons	Yes	33	1928		23 Feb 1998	70	8		8
Cat trained by	John Holmes	Yes	48	1913		13 Sep 2000	87	1	1	2
Clapper Loader	Alan McDonald	No	23	1938	1 Jan 1938		87		14	14
Construction Manager	Arthur Banks	No						19	29	48
Continuity	Tilly Day	Yes	58	1903		1994	91	14	1	15
Director	John Gilling	Yes	48	29 May 1912		22 Nov 1984	72	19		19
Director of Photography	Arthur Grant	Yes	46	1915		1972	57	34		34
Editor	John Pomeroy	Yes	40	1921		1979	58	1		1
Electrician	Jack Curtis	No						3	24	27
Focus Puller	Harry Oakes	No	40	16 Jan 1921		11 Dec 2012	91	3	56	59
Hair Stylist	Frieda Steiger	Yes	57	29 Dec 1903		19 Aug 1992	88	28		28
Make-up	Roy Ashton	Yes	52	16 Apr 1909		10 Jan 1995	85	36	4	40
Music Composed & Conducted by	Mikis Theodorakis	Yes	35	29 Jul 1925		2 Sep 2021	96	1		1
Producer	Jon Penington	Yes	39	30 Mar 1922		13 Apr 1997	75	1		1
Production Designer	Bernard Robinson	Yes	48	28 Jul 1912		2 Mar 1970	57	46	4	50
Production Manager	Don Weeks	Yes	56	15 Nov 1904		Mar 1988	83	31		31
Props	Peter Allchorne	No	36	1925	1 Jan 1925		100		9	9
Second Assistant Director	Dominic Fulford	No	41	19 Aug 1919		23 Apr 2007	87	1	6	7
Sound Editor	Alban Streeter	Yes	31	1930	1 Jan 1930		95	7		7
Sound Recordist	Jock May	Yes	56	1905		8 Jan 1991	86	31	1	32
Sound Recordist	Ken Cameron	Yes	45	1 Dec 1915		8 Aug 2000	84	8	2	10
Special Effects	Les Bowie	Yes	47	10 Nov 1913		27 Jan 1979	65	30	13	43
Special Effects Assistant	Ian Scoones	No	21	20 Feb 1940		20 Jan 2010	69	13	9	22
Still Photographer	Tom Edwards	No				1999			27	27
Stunts	Jack Cooper	No	38	1923		2010	87	1	5	6
Supervising Editor	James Needs	Yes	42	17 Oct 1919		4 Feb 2003	83	113	1	114
Wardrobe Supervisor	Molly Arbuthnot	Yes	52	19 Dec 1908		31 Oct 2001	92	48	5	53
Writer	George Baxt	Yes	37	11 Jun 1923		28 Jun 2003	80	2	1	3
CAST
Ambulance Man	Fred Stone	No	52	9 Jul 1908		8 Jul 1995	86		3	3
Ambulance Man	George Doonan	No	66	22 Jan 1895		17 Apr 1973	78		1	1
Andrew, the Butler	Andrew Crawford	Yes	43	24 Oct 1917		18 Mar 1994	76	1		1
Beth Vanable	Barbara Shelley	Yes	29	13 Feb 1932		3 Jan 2021	88	8		8
Cat	Bunkie	No							1	1
Clara, the Maid	Freda Jackson	Yes	53	29 Dec 1907		20 Oct 1990	82	2		2
Constable	Peter Evans	No						1	3	4
Constable Hamer	John Dearth	No	40	16 Oct 1920		17 Mar 1984	63		1	1
Dobbins	Charles Stanley	No							1	1
Edgar Venable	Richard Warner	Yes	49	24 May 1911		14 Jan 1989	77	3		3
Ella Venable	Catherine Lacey	Yes	56	6 May 1904		20 Sep 1979	75	3		3
Father	Kevin Stoney	No	39	25 Jul 1921		20 Jan 2008	86	2	1	3
Inspector Rowles	Alan Wheatley	Yes	54	19 Apr 1907		30 Aug 1991	84	4		4
Jacob Venable	William Lucas	Yes	36	14 Apr 1925		8 Jul 2016	91	3		3
Louise Venable	Vanda Godsell	Yes	38	17 Nov 1922		2 Apr 1990	67	3		3
Michael Latimer	Conrad Phillips	Yes	36	13 Apr 1925		13 Jan 2016	90	3	1	4
The Daughter	Angela Crow	No	25	13 Dec 1935		3 Mar 2022	86		2	2
The Doctor	Henry Kendall	No	63	28 May 1897		9 Jun 1962	65		1	1
The Grandfather	Kynaston Reeves	Yes	67	29 May 1893		5 Dec 1971	78	2		2
The Mother	Vera Cook	No	48	19 Jun 1912		1 Jun 1996	83	3	2	5
The Son	Howard Knight	No	11	15 Apr 1950			75		1	1
Walter Venable	Andre Morell	Yes	51	20 Aug 1909		28 Nov 1978	68	9		9
Workman	Rodney Burke	No	28	13 Jul 1932			93		4	4

Original Poster

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Footnotes

Although Hammer do not appear in the credits, this was clearly a Hammer Production. Not only was it filmed at Bray Studios, but many of the production crew were Hammer faithfuls, and all but one of the credited cast (Andrew Crawford) had worked (or were to work) for the company in a combined total of 28 other productions.

Alan Wheatley played the Sheriff of Nottingham in ITC’s series The Adventures of Robin Hood (1960’s), he also played Temmosus in BBC TV’s Doctor Who (1964), becoming the first character to be killed by a Dalek!

Music composer Mikis Theodorakis also produced the score for Twentieth Century Fox’s 1964 film Zorba the Greek.

1961 BBFC Cert. “X"

Production Details

Stills from film

Cast & Crew

Original Poster

Footnotes

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