Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958) User Reviews

Who is hunting who?

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 24 October 2012]

Chase a Crooked Shadow is directed by Michael Anderson and written by David D. Osborn and Charles Sinclair. It stars Richard Todd, Anne Baxter, Herbert Lom and Faith Brook. Music is scored by Matyas Seiber, with additional guitar by Julian Bream, and cinematography by Erwin Hillier.

A man shows up at Kimberley Prescott's Spanish villa claiming to be her brother. Trouble is is that her brother, Ward Prescott, died in a car accident a year ago...

The core formula for Chase a Crooked Shadow has been well mined over the years, only recently I myself viewed the quite excellent Hammer Films Production of Paranoiac, which treads the same ground as Anderson's movie, but there's a filmic style here that adds further atmosphere to the moody mysterious tone of the narrative. Thus, in spite of the absurdities and stretching of credulity, this is well worth seeking out.

Anderson carefully builds the suspense, ensuring that what we think we know may in fact not be the case. The twists and jolts are deftly handled and the finale is a delightful bolt from the blue. Along the way we are treated to a noirish canvas, where even though the film is shot on location on the Costa Brava, there's a Gothic sheen pretty much every where you look. The interior of the villa is complete with Grandfather clock, iron gate doors, odd light shades, statuettes and one of those staircases with balustrade, all of which is given maximum shadow effects by Hillier. The outside courtyard also serves the uneasy mood well, as does the stone beach house at the bottom of the hill, it should be idyllic, but fret and discord dwell there as well.

Cast are most effective, some have called Todd too wooden, but he needs to be restrained here, he is after all playing the character's cards close to his chest. Baxter, looking positively lovely, handles the mental disintegration process with great skill, Brook really exudes a Mrs. Danvers like menace purely with cold dialogue delivery and an icy stare, while Lom has authoritative presence as the police man being pulled both ways of the mystery. Top performers doing justice to a fine mystery story that is in turn offering some visual pleasures too. 7.5/10

Great scenery, nice photography, wonderful guitar, torturous plot

[secondtake · 7/10 · 12 May 2018]

Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958)

This dives quickly in--an heiress has come to Barcelona and a man who is apparently after her fortune shows up, at night, with cocky assurance. It's evil and it's odd. The woman is played with stern conviction by Anne Baxter, and she holds the whole movie together. The filming is vivid, and dark and shadowy from the get go, in moderately wide screen black and white. When it goes to daylight, the crips, tonal perfection of the image is quite noticeable. That might be an odd reason to like the movie, but it's quite visually beautiful. I suppose the East Coast of Spain gets some credit. Unfortunately, the plot at first comes off as improbable, with a couple of twists at the beginning that left me incredulous. But the acting is so earnest you can put up with it for awhile. When it becomes a kind of mind game between the two leads, it has some reasonable thread (some) and it is only the steely determination of Baxter's acting that keeps it interesting. The plot against this woman is elaborate, and therefore scary, held in check by the upper class politeness of all the characters. I'm sure people would compare this to Hitchcock for its personal suspense, its stylish attempts at mind games, or for echoes of "Gaslight" and "Rebecca." It's a British movie, released by Warner Bros., and it might suffer from a sense of imitating Hollywood rather than making its own mark (as Carol Reed might have a few years earlier). The British director here is Michael Anderson, who left no real imprint on film history, and the leading actor is also British, Richard Todd, and he's more handsome than compelling. So why see the film? The palette of grey tones of the deep focus photography? The torturous plot with too much talking? Anne Baxter, alone, rising above? Maybe, almost. There is enough in these elements to almost work, actually. Convolutions. And Julian Bream's wonderful guitar.

very good mystery-suspense

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 19 November 2011]

"Chase a Crooked Shadow" is a 1958 black and white film starring Anne Baxter, Richard Todd, Herbert Lom, Alexander Knox, and Faith Brook. Baxter plays an heiress, Kimberly Prescott, living abroad, whose dead brother (Todd) turns up after being killed in a car accident a year earlier. Except he's not her brother. He brings a woman, Miss Whitman (Brook) with him, sends Kimberly's maid away and brings in his own servants. Kimberly is desperate to reach her architect friend Chandler (Knox) who will know this man isn't her brother, but she can't reach him. And the local chief of police (Lom) seems to side with the fake brother. Well, after all, he does have the correct ID, and the photo Kimberly keeps by her bed has suddenly turned into a photo of the fake!

The question is, what do these people want? Is she safe with them, or do they plan to get rid of her? This intriguing, atmospheric drama is excellent, except I've seen so many of these things (it's one of my favorite genres) that I figured the plot out right away. Most people will simply enjoy the ride and the surprises.

Baxter looks lovely as the put-upon, desperate heiress, and the role calls for a gamut of emotions, all of which she delivers. Todd and Lom are terrific as well. Really excellent, with very good performances all around.

They don't make them like that, anymore !

[frankatcccp · 10 October 2002]

When I was a little boy, I had seen the film, but remembered little of it. However, in the early sixties, my Dad took me on a holiday to Spain, to a little village south of Barcelona, called Sitges. During one coach journey, the courier told us that the mountain road that we were now on was the scene of a fast car drive in a film made a couple of years previously, called 'Chase a Crooked Shadow'. I remember the road well, with the cliff drops hundreds of feet below to the sea and this coupled with my fond memory of that holiday in Franco's long gone Spain and the fact that the film itself is a brilliant piece of old cinema with a terrific twist at the end, makes me watch this film over and over again. I see something in it every time I watch it - the sign of a good film!

"You ought to be spanked for this."

[brogmiller · 7/10 · 18 November 2022]

Although it has been suggested that the premise of Michael Anderson's film is based upon Josephine Tey's 'Brat Farrar', subsequently filmed by Hammer as 'Paranoiac', it actually bears a far greater resemblance to an American radio play from 1948 entitled 'Stranger in the House'.

Be that as it may the plot of this particular opus, although ingenious, is inclined to stretch credibility to the utmost but remains eminently watchable thanks to Mr. Anderson's customary craftsmanship and undeniable skill with actors. The films fabulous 'look' is courtesy of Anderson's favoured cinematographer Ernest Hillier who learnt his trade under Murnau and Lang which is especially evident in the interior and night-time scenes. Although slowly paced the director and editor Gordon Pilkington maintain the tension and during the car ride at high speed along a mountain road, the splicing of back projection and live footage is brilliantly done.

This is Richard Todd's third film for this director and although Mr. Todd is traditionally at his best in uniform he acquits himself well here as a man who is not exactly what he appears to be! Good support from Alexander Knox and Faith Brook whilst the immaculate Herbert Lom is, as always, great value.

As an ardent devotee of Anne Baxter I would have to say that as well as looking good enough to eat her portrayal of gradually mounting hysteria is wondrous to behold. A consummate professional who never gave less than her best, whatever her material.

A few years earlier Michael Anderson had been described by one critic as the most promising British director since Carol Reed and David Lean. Although he may not perhaps have reached the heights of those two, he did, to an extent, fulfil his promise.

CHASE A CROOKED SHADOW (Michael Anderson, 1958) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 10 January 2009]

Having long been interested in watching this well-regarded British thriller of the 'let's-drive-an-heiress-mad' variety, I can't help admitting I was somewhat underwhelmed by it; the reason for this, perhaps, is that we've seen this plot in countless other films so that, while one hoped that the treatment would rise above the overly-familiar premise, what we get here is pretty standard (read: low-key or, if you like, genteel) stuff. That is not to say the suspense of the piece – and the awkwardness that goes with it (the heroine trying time and again to convince the police that the man who says is her brother isn't really) – isn't effectively rendered, far from it. For one thing, the consummate professionalism and no-nonsense attitude of the people involved (despite the modest resources at hand) is redolent of classic British cinema at its best and the casting, while unlikely at first glance, is quite successful in the long run. Anne Baxter is the put-upon heroine, Richard Todd the smooth intruder (who goes so far as to acquire the daredevil driving skills of Baxter's allegedly deceased brother!), Herbert Lom the Spanish Police Commissioner (the film is set in picturesque Barcelona) and Alexander Knox appears as Baxter's apparently duplicitous uncle. All of this converges satisfactorily in the film's twist ending – and its real coup – which not only subverts everything that has gone on before, but would be too far-fetched to swallow had one not been sufficiently drawn into the intricate proceedings.

Todd Gaslights Baxter

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 18 November 2011]

Chase A Crooked Shadow which was filmed in Spain and produced by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. has Anne Baxter as a rich heiress living in the family villa which is her's free and clear due to the deaths of her father and brother a year earlier. All seems well enough when Richard Todd shows up claiming to be her brother. Well and good, but when the household staff and her uncle Alexander Knox all accept him as the brother she identified as dead after an automobile crash in South Africa, Baxter thinks she's heading for the rubber room. She also gets little sympathy from the local police in the person of Herbert Lom.

There's also the matter of a fortune in diamonds that was stolen from the company where father made his millions. Another mystery as yet unsolved.

So just who is the bad one in this film? That you won't know until the very end when as the Belgian sleuth always says 'all will be revealed'.

Charles Boyer did not do a neater job of gaslighting Ingrid Bergman than Todd is doing to Anne Baxter. Both the stars do well, but the underlying reason for this particular gambit is a bit far fetched for my taste.

A classic 'B' movie thriller you won't forget.

[tregenna · 9/10 · 7 July 2001]

A movie you will always remember. Intriguing story, 'look behind you' thrills, 'face at the door' shocks, solid acting, a great 'twist in the tale' and haunting guitar music.

It may have been cheaply made and studio bound but it just goes to prove you can't beat a good story and ... a memorable tune. Enjoy, because they don't make them like that anymore.

Worth watching, but...

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 6/10 · 7 May 2019]

Today I think that British films are often quite impressive. But in previous decades I rarely enjoyed them. This film was from that era when I usually didn't care for British films. And, I have very mixed feelings about this one.

I give this film an A+ for one thing. I usually see a surprise ending coming a mile away. But here they carefully and skillfully crafted two potential scenarios that made me know exactly which two conclusions the film would come to. Except, they surprised me. And it worked. Cleverly done.

The cast is interesting, although I've never been totally comfortable with Richard Todd; and here, again, he just make me feel...well let's just say the best acting is when it doesn't seem as if the actor is acting...and to me Todd always seemed to be acting. Interesting to see Anne Baxter here. I think there may have been a bit of overacting on her part in this role, but it's still a forceful performance. Herbert Lom was a very dependable actor, and that's exactly how I would describe him here...reliable as the police detective. Interesting, also, to see Alexander Knox in a small, but important role here.

In terms of the plot, the way in which they mapped the story out, to lead the viewer to see two fairly logical conclusions coming down the road was very well done. My complaint is that there seemed to be not a second of time in the film wasted on "just life". Every single word was important to the story, which sounds like a good thing, but it gave the film a very unrelaxed nature. At times I compared it to Hitchcock, but this film doesn't have that talented a director.

Do I recommend this film? Well, perhaps, if you like British films. But if you experience with British films is negative...this isn't going to change that perspective.

Oh dear, who can my brother be?!

[benbrae76 · 10/10 · 29 August 2006]

Apart from the ingenious (albeit a tad implausible) plot-with-a-twist story, the most memorable aspect of this movie is the haunting solo guitar music played by Julian Bream. It follows the action at every twist and turn, and has much the same tension building quality as did the zither music in "The Third Man".

Richard Todd is the ultimate "officer & gentleman" type actor, but he is quite adept at turning on a sinister streak, as in this movie (and the earlier "Stagefright"). I think Anne Baxter overplays the hysterics just a little (a touch of the "method" creeping in perhaps). But then who am I to say how a woman in such an odd situation as her character finds herself would react? So maybe Anne does get it right.

That situation is a simple one plot-wise. A menacing stranger (with equally menacing friends) has intruded into a wealthy woman's life purporting to be her long dead brother. But is he or isn't he? She is quite sure he isn't. She turns to the police and to her Uncle Chan for help, but none seems to be forthcoming. End of plot...or is it?

I may be wrong (although I don't think so), but I fancy I've also seen the same footage of the "car careering down the mountain road" scene in another totally different movie, but for the life of me I can't remember the name of it. Maybe some one can help me out?

This little black and white thriller keeps the guesswork and the suspense right through to the last. Every time I see it I wonder just how Alfred Hitchcock would have approached it. Differently no doubt, but I don't think he would have done any better. It's just fine as it is. Watch it and see.

"I Deal In Crimes That Are Committed, Not Crimes That Are...Imagined"

[davidcarniglia · 7/10 · 30 April 2019]

Great premise for a mystery. The isolated, exotic locale builds atmosphere, the plot is set in motion immediately, and both Anne Baxter as Kimberley and Richard Todd as her 'brother' Ward give strong, complimentary performances. The slick way that Ward insinuates himself into Kimberley's life is convincingly creepy. As others have said, he and his partner Elaine (Faith Brook) 'gaslight' Kimberley; she can't successfully expose Ward, as she's suspected of not being stable, so she steadily loses credibility.

Her dilemma becomes so insidious that she endangers herself. When she dares Ward to race on the twisty coastal road; she counts on exposing him--as only the 'real' Ward could drive so fast. Unfortunately, if she's too right, she'll probably fly off a cliff with him. So, luckily I guess, she's wrong; but she can't help accusing him of trying to frighten her. Which only makes him a better imposter. The diamond issue is the obvious key to the false identity plot. Ward and Elaine coerce her into basically giving up the diamonds, but that doesn't mean she gets rid of her antagonists.

Things only get more complicated from them on. She tells the policeman Vargas (Herbert Lom) about her brother's death, and almost, but not quite implicates herself. That, and her confession about the diamonds gets Vargas on her side for a bit. But, the actual denouement reveals both that 'Ward' is an imposter and that she did in fact kill her brother. Those revelations at least prevent the initial set-up from undercutting the entire plot--from the first scene we see that 'Ward' and Elaine are targeting Kimberley.

That still leaves a few loose ends: Bridson (Alexander Knox), is taken-in by 'Ward' just as Vargas is, but why isn't he surprised that nothing' turns out as it seems? More importantly, why isn't Vargas let in on the whole undercover plot? It would make sense for him to not show his hand to Kimberley, but the South African police would tip him off from the outset. That's just how it's done. For one thing, if the 'gaslighting' goes on too long, Kimberley might end up in an asylum, basically out of the reach of prosecutors. What's worse is that 'Ward' and Elaine are about to execute Kimberley; only Vargas's timely arrival closes the door on that. It would be somewhat counterproductive for an undercover team to bring a corpse to justice.

Chase A Crooked Shadow (a great title) is pretty entertaining. With the exception of Knox, who doesn't have much to do as the favored uncle, the principal characters swarm around each other with plausible and interlocking motivations. As others have said, the movie is a bit talky and stagey, especially the ending. And the explanations don't altogether account for the characters' actions. Worth a look anyway.

The cleverest plot of any movie

[pcwagener · 10/10 · 24 July 2001]

I consider this movie as one of the cleverest ever made. It keeps you perplexed till the end. Marvellous acting by all, with Herbert Lom always at his best. B&W very appropriate. Please, Amazon, make it available!

The Brother

[Insane_Man · 7/10 · 1 March 2021]

The brother of a woman arrives at home while the woman denies him her brother. She repeatedly tells the police that her brother is dead. So how can he be her brother. Even his face is not match with her brother but the brother, the man has every prove that he must be her brother. A sinister incident must be unfolded.

One of the most intelligent plot. Richard Todd is an underrated actor. The car driving scene at the hill side was amazing. Amazing view and place where the house is situated. Top direction.

70% Recommended.

Neat idea....bad movie!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 24 August 2016]

The idea behind "Cast a Crooked Shadow" is really neat....it's what they did with it that really, really disappointed me and left me irritated. After all, with such a great idea, surely they could have dealt with it better than this mess of a film!

When the film begins, Kimberly Prescott (Anne Baxter) is taking control of her family's estate in Spain. It seems that her father killed himself and she's the surviving heir. However, soon her brother arrives and this is a SERIOUS problem since he is dead!! No, he's NOT a zombie but a man who is claiming to be her brother. She KNOWS he's a phony, as she saw her brother's dead body. But the man has all the documentation to prove he IS her brother! And, soon he brings folks into the home and soon Kimberly is a virtual prisoner due to these strangers! How is she to resolve all this, as they probably are going to kill her and the police think she's nuts!

So why did I eventually feel cheated? Well, how all this was resolved....it was terrible. And, I have no idea why they chose to run away from the menacing fake brother angle and where the film eventually chose to go. It didn't work and the big confession scene at the end was ridiculous. A BIG misfire.

A twist in the tale

[jandesimpson · 12 October 2003]

I have to admit, I am a sucker for a plot with a good twist. The problem is they don't grow on trees. Think of the films of recent years and I can only come up with two, "The Usual Suspects" and "The Sixth Sense". Both come into the category of being worth a second look to see how they work and both pass the credibility test with flying colours. There was that detective novelist of yesteryear, Agatha Christie. I lapped up practically every one of her tales as a teenager and a young man. She must have tried out every permutation of the twist imaginable, always giving the satisfaction that, even if you did not guess it, the person who "dun" it was psychologically the only possible candidate. After "Aggie" the detective novel was never quite the same again. By trying to write "real" novels of supposedly literary quality, most writers in this field seemed more interested in realism than clever twists with the result that I rather lost interest in the genre. Again there are very few good twist movies from the time I grew up with cinema. "Les Diaboliques" and "So Long at the Fair" remain excellent examples that give pleasure on repeated showings even with the element of surprise missing. Worth mentioning that, although not quite on their level, I actually discovered a good little twist movie the other day from the same period, "Chase a Crooked Shadow" starring Anne Baxter and Richard Todd. Anne Baxter is in much the same sort of predicament as Jean Simmons in "So Long at the Fair". Instead of her brother disappearing, Anne's supposedly dead brother turns up as someone she does not recognise. She spends much of the film trying to convince friends and police that Richard Todd is not her brother but of course no-one believes her. I suppose that ultimately "Chase a Crooked Shadow" lacks the sense of style of the others I have mentioned. Michael Anderson's direction is rather pedestrian although he does manage a couple of sudden character appearances that made me jump. I don't suppose I shall watch it again as I rather think it has given up all it has to offer but I would certainly recommend it to lovers of Grand Guignol as an hour and a half of mildly pleasurably viewing.

Anne Baxter in rather too ingeniously plotted woman-in-peril picture

[bmacv · 6/10 · 17 September 2002]

Chase A Crooked Shadow numbers among those ingeniously plotted movies that are too clever by half. But it sustains interest and stars Anne Baxter, nothing to sneeze at. Baxter plays a South African diamond heiress `resting' at her seaside villa in Spain. One night, up shows a total stranger (Richard Todd) who claims to be her wastrel brother, supposedly killed in a racing-car crash. He presents his alternative reality with needling superiority, and in Todd they found precisely the supercilious cold fish to present it.

Pleas to the local police (in the person of Herbert Lom) prove bootless, as Todd's papers and passport prove in order; he's also uncannily familiar with family details, such as the ingredients of Baxter's `swimming drink' (vermouth cassis with a splash of soda). At the bottom of the imposture is a quest for some $10-million in diamonds gone missing before Baxter's father's Transvaal Company went belly-up, resulting in his suicide. Baxter tries to find a chink in Todd's armor, but he seems to have covered every angle, including suborning her avuncular uncle (Alexander Knox, in a wisp of a role).

Though the movie is confined almost entirely to the villa and boasts a cast of six and a half, it's well photographed – the arches and wrought iron lend themselves to subtle and effective lighting. But what about the final twist of the plot? Since producer Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. appears in a coda to warn against giving away the secret, it won't be revealed here. But it leaves rapt viewers faintly disgruntled, wondering if and how they've been somehow swindled along the way.

Clever psycho thriller with a decent cast

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 18 December 2017]

CHASE A CROOKED SHADOW is a low budget British crime thriller with a simple plot well brought to the screen. Anne Baxter plays a lonely woman living in a big villa who is visited by a stranger who claims to be her brother, previously thought dead. The man assimilates himself into her life, gradually sending her over the edge, while friends and associates refuse to believe that he's not who he claims to be. This very much plays out as a psycho-thriller like the many such films that Hammer Films made during the 1960s (A TASTE OF FEAR, for example). The writing is clever and literate, successfully building to a twist climax that you won't see coming despite all the guesswork you'll be putting in. Richard Todd and Herbert Lom make up the excellent little cast.

well worth watching

[rupie · 7/10 · 21 August 2016]

I was drawn to watch this on TCM because of the excellent cast - Richard Todd, Ann Baxter and Herbert Lom - and was not disappointed. What begins as a seemingly mundane thriller soon develops enough twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat, and finishes off with a completely unexpected (if somewhat unrealistic) surprise. The acting is excellent from all concerned, and the pacing is superb. Also, the production values and cinematography are top notch, which is to be expected from director Michael Anderson, who gave us The Dam Busters, Shake Hand with the Devil, Mike Todd's production of Around the World in 80 Days, and many other fine flicks.

Excellent and gripping thriller

[chris_gaskin123 · 8/10 · 13 April 2005]

I've just purchased a copy of Chase a Crooked Shadow on video and found it very gripping and was surprised by the end.

A complete stranger turns up a at a woman's home claiming to be her brother. But her brother is dead, but he still claims he his. Nobody believes he isn't her brother, including her uncle. She does eventually get a police chief to believe her but at the end, he turns on her and we find out who this man really is and the "new" staff at her mansion really are and what they want from her...

The movie has some nice scenery and a rather haunting score.

The cast includes Richard Todd (The Story of Robin Hood, The Dam Busters), Anne Baxter (I Confess), Herbert Lom (North West Frontier, Mysterious Island) and Alexander Knox. Excellent parts from all. This movie was produced by actor Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Chase a Crooked Shadow is worth catching if you get the chance. Excellent.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5.

Thriller with Anne BAXTER and Richard TODD

[ZeddaZogenau · 7/10 · 26 November 2023]

On the trail of Hitchcock: Anne Baxter and Richard Todd in a thriller by Michael Anderson

While researching director Michael Anderson, I realized that I had seen this film a long time ago, but I remembered it as being well worth seeing. That's why I decided to write a comment on this British black and white film without re-viewing it.

South African diamond heiress Kimberly Prescott (OSCAR winner Anne Baxter) lives a luxurious life on the Costa Brava. One day an attractive man (GOLDEN GLOBE winner Richard Todd) shows up who steadfastly claims to be her brother Ward. But he had a fatal accident in South Africa a year ago. Kimberly feels more and more threatened by the mysterious stranger and calls Inspector Vargas (Herbert Lom) for help. Then events come to a head...

A mysterious plot, two gorgeous main actors, beautiful locations and surprising twists make this little film gem a great pleasure. There's a real buzz between Anne Baxter (1923-1985) and Richard Todd (1919-2009)...can that be possible between sister and brother?

A great film that should definitely be made available again!

very good mystery

[Greg% · 10/10 · 8 May 1999]

This is one of my favourite movies. It's filmed in gorgeous black and white in the gorgeous south of France. I like this film a lot because the twist at the end is so good and so well executed by the film makers, writers and cast. It's a B grade classic.

An Interesting Mystery That Doesn't Quite Match Its Premise

[jpcgillam · 6/10 · 23 April 2022]

A South African heiress (Anne Baxter) begins to doubt her sanity when a man (Richard Todd) arrives claiming to be her brother, who was believed dead several months before, in Michael Anderson's mystery thriller.

It's got an intriguing set up, but I think a director like Joseph Losey would've done even more with it by heightening the more ambiguous psychological aspects of the story. Anderson does a good job of creating suspense here, especially in the claustrophobic shots that follow Baxter around the house, but everything's done too straightforwardly and stagily to really delve into this surreal side, which causes some of the twists to seem overly telegraphed in advance.

Nevertheless, it still builds a good mystery, with Baxter really selling her character's mounting paranoia as she struggles to convince the people around her that this stranger isn't her brother, slowly questioning her situation as time goes on. This leads to a great final sequence that really amps the tension up, rounding the story off in a way that helps to alter everything we've just seen.

Cast a Crooked Shadow is a solid thriller that has some effective twists and turns, even if it feels a bit too conventional to really stand out.

One of My Favourite Films

[djfjflsflscv · 10/10 · 1 April 2020]

Kimberly Prescott (Anne Baxter) is a young South African heiress of a diamond company living in a Spanish villa. She has had a trying year: her father had committed suicide while her brother, Ward, is believed to have died in a car accident. One night, there arrives a man (Richard Todd) who claims to be her late brother. Kimberly is angry with what she considers to be a distasteful joke. The man is insistent, however, and can back up his claims with photographs and a detailed knowledge of their shared childhood. He swiftly installs himself in Kimberley's villa and into her life, while local inspector Vargas (Herbert Lom) remains confused and concerned. Everyone considers Kimberley to be mad and even she begins to doubt herself. And then she realises her life is in danger.

This 1958 thriller riffs on one of the most intriguing of old chestnuts - the long-lost relative who may be an imposter, which was also the premise to Golden Age writer Josephine Fey's 1949 novel Brat Farrar. Director Michael Anderson gives us a suspenseful, gothic melodrama which keeps the viewers wondering just how it will end. Richard Todd, who had just appeared in Yangtse Incident for Anderson, makes his character casual, creepy and occasionally even considerate, while Anne Baxter remains on the right side of hysterical. She does much of the heavy lifting here, appearing in most scenes, and maintains a difficult balance between anxiety and determination, while never appearing weak. Of particular mention is Herbert Lom, surely one of the most underrated actors of his generation, who remains sympathetic as Vargas. He is intrigued and suspicious, but stymied by Ward's plausible explanations. There's also a quite excellent twist in the tale, which should not be considered too much beforehand.

This was another I saw on the Talking Pictures TV channel, on Christmas Day, and it was better than many current TV offerings. Anyone wanting a cosily creepy evening viewing, in the Daphne du Maurier tradition of clifftop terror, will do well to check this out.

Very run of the mill, with ludicrous twist

[d_m_s · 1/10 · 18 April 2019]

Bland, run of the mill 'thriller'. For a while I was intrigued by the mystery of what was going on but once the twist was revealed it felt far fetched and kind of pointless.

Nothing exceptional here at all - the directing and acting are very standard stuff and overall has an air of blandness.

The twist (here it comes) that the man pretending to be her brother was in fact an undercover police officer trying to drive her mad and eke out a confession of murder just felt way too far fetched for me.

Superb and harrowing mystery thriller

[robert-temple-1 · 18 August 2011]

Michael Anderson here has directed a really hair-raising and sinister mystery thriller. The story is most ingenious and creepy: a man, played by Richard Todd, appears one evening at Anne Baxter's villa near Barcelona and pretends to know her intimately. He says he is her brother. But as she knows very well, he is an impostor. Her brother was killed only a year before in a car crash, and she identified his body. Who is this man? What does he want? He won't go away and she calls the local police chief (Herbert Lom) to have him thrown out. But he produces impeccable credentials, a passport, a letter of credit for the bank, and so forth, to prove that he is Baxter's brother. Despite Baxter's increasingly hysterical insistence that this man is an impostor, Lom has to go away, though his suspicions have been aroused, and he keeps an eye on things as they develop. Meanwhile, Todd cannot be dislodged, and he moves into the villa. Baxter's maid vanishes on a sudden holiday and is replaced with Todd's woman friend, played by Faith Brook. Todd also introduces a butler called Carlos. Baxter is understandably in a continual state of fear, surrounded now by aliens in her own house, unable to do anything about it, though she keeps trying. Then the intruders show their hand: it is all about £10 million of missing diamonds which had belonged to Baxter's deceased father, a diamond king of South Africa (Baxter's character is named Kimberley, get it?). Where are the diamonds? But that is not all. There is also the matter of the Last Will and Testament which they present to her, which she is meant to sign, before they drown her. Baxter does an excellent job of becoming increasingly shrill and distraught in this impossible situation. But the main impact of the film comes from the perfect manners of Richard Todd, who is genteel and controlled at all times. This provides the necessary eerie quality to the surreal events of the story. Richard really was such a 'perfect gent'. I knew him late in life, and, like John Mills, he was always impeccably dressed and had the most perfect manners and gentility. They 'don't make 'em like that anymore'.