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Reviews
The House in Marsh Road (1960)
A compelling narrative helped by excellent acting performances.
It seems unusual for a story with a poltergeist character to be set in the modern era (1960) but the story is convincing and the narrative is helped by the effective and restrained performances of the main characters. The music seems strangely reminiscent of Bernard Hermann's Vertigo score in places; in others of that used in the One Step Beyond TV series; surely a coincidence since the latter was produced at around the same time as this film.
The Man Who Never Was (1956)
Still a powerful and moving production
I first saw this film shortly after it was released, when I was fourteen years old. Seeing it again sixty-five years later, I would say that it has lost none of its impact as a powerful and moving production.
The dramatic "Deadly Dream" verse is from the anonymous Scottish ballad about the Battle of Otterburn, which took place in Northumberland in 1388, between the Scots, led by James Douglas and the English, led by Harry Hotspur.
Fire Maidens from Outer Space (1956)
England's answer to Ed Wood
Something to watch in horrified - or amused - fascination. Not a fifties sci-fi romp; more a stagger. Borodin's music had already been done to death by Hollywood. Here it was a victim of exhumation. Interestingly, other music in the film seems to have been borrowed from the BBC's first Quatermass serialisation. Some gravitas added by Messrs Carpenter, Fowler and Tafler; presumably early in their careers.