Sid James --in a serious role -- is a rich man who practices yoga. Before a demonstration in which he simulates being dead, he warns that anyone who speaks could kill him dead. His second wife, Betty Ann Davies, makes sure of that. She is disappointed when a quarter of a million pounds is left to his daughter from his first wife, Hazel Penwarden. There's good news, though. If she goes mad before her 21st birthday, the bequest is cut to a fifth of that, Betty Ann picks it up and gets management of that. So Miss Davies and her daughter from a previous marriage, Sheila Burrell, plot to gaslight her, with the help of money-hungry Anthony Forwood.
Nice people. Miss Penwarden seems quite wacky, alternating terror with cheerfulness as people keep dying, and she has conversations with them after they become corpses. I won't say the outcome is a surprise, but it's done with such roguish black humor, that I enjoyed it.
It's based on Valentine Dyall's hit BBC radio show of the same name, and Mr. Dyall is on hand to introduce us to the people involved. At the time, Hammer Pictures, under the "Exclusive Films" distribution marque, offered several movies based on currently popular radio shows, including DICK BARTON, DETECTIVE, MEET SIMON CHERRY, and THE ADVENTURES OF P.C. 49. None lasted more than a couple of movies.
Nice people. Miss Penwarden seems quite wacky, alternating terror with cheerfulness as people keep dying, and she has conversations with them after they become corpses. I won't say the outcome is a surprise, but it's done with such roguish black humor, that I enjoyed it.
It's based on Valentine Dyall's hit BBC radio show of the same name, and Mr. Dyall is on hand to introduce us to the people involved. At the time, Hammer Pictures, under the "Exclusive Films" distribution marque, offered several movies based on currently popular radio shows, including DICK BARTON, DETECTIVE, MEET SIMON CHERRY, and THE ADVENTURES OF P.C. 49. None lasted more than a couple of movies.