Village of the Damned (1960)

In the English village of Midwich, the blonde-haired, glowing-eyed children of uncertain paternity prove to have frightening powers.

Director:

Wolf Rilla

Writers:

Stirling Silliphant (screenplay), Wolf Rilla (screenplay)

Stars:

George Sanders, Barbara Shelley, Michael Gwynn

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Sanders	...	Gordon Zellaby
Barbara Shelley	...	Anthea Zellaby
Michael Gwynn	...	Major Alan Bernard
Laurence Naismith	...	Doctor Willers
John Phillips	...	General Leighton
Richard Vernon	...	Sir Edgar Hargraves
Jenny Laird	...	Mrs. Harrington
Thomas Heathcote	...	James Pawle
Martin Stephens	...	David Zellaby
Richard Warner	...	Harrington
Sarah Long	...	Evelyn Harrington
Charlotte Mitchell	...	Janet Pawle
Pamela Buck	...	Milly Hughes
Rosamund Greenwood	...	Miss Ogle
Susan Richards	...	Mrs. Plumpton

Storyline

In the small English village of Midwich everybody and everything falls into a deep, mysterious sleep for several hours in the middle of the day. Some months later every woman capable of child-bearing is pregnant and the children that are born out of these pregnancies seem to grow very fast and they all have the same blond hair and strange, penetrating eyes that make people do things they don't want to do.

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Plot Keywords:

village | english | weird pregnancy | knocked out | mind reading | 

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Taglines:

THE STRANGEST STORY THAT SCIENCE-FICTION EVER TOLD! (original poster-all caps)

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 December 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Village of the Damned

Filming Locations:

Haberdashers' Aske's School, Aldenham Road, Elstree, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$200,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on the John Wyndham novel, "The Midwich Cuckoos". The title refers to the fact that when cuckoo birds lay eggs, they deposit them in the nests of other (unsuspecting) birds, who then raise the cuckoo chicks as their own. Compounding the insidious nature of this process, the cuckoo chicks often kill their nestmates in competition for food and parental attention.

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Goofs

An abdominal X-ray is displayed which supposedly shows the fetus of a pregnant woman. Not only is there no fetus, the X-ray isn't even that of a woman, as the pelvis is obviously that of a man.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Prof. Gordon Zellaby: [on telephone] Good morning. Uh, would you get me Major Bernard at his Whitehall number? Thank you.

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Alternate Versions

Also available in a computer colorized version.

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Connections

Referenced in Jeopardy!: Episode #22.103 (2006)

User Reviews

A great classic thriller, unfortunately overshadowed by the spectacular psychological thriller released the same year - Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.

Village of the Damned is a very well-made thriller that seems to have been overlooked because of the sheer magnitude of its competition - Psycho. Both of these films are testaments to the idea that low budgets are very capable of producing great films. It is not the size of the budget that matters, it is the skill of the filmmakers and the actors. Village of the Damned makes use of a variety of very easily done but also very effective special effects, such as the boundary across which all people and animals lose consciousness, the creepy eyes on those kids, and their hypnotic powers.

The discussion of the exact same phenomenon happening to a few remote towns all over the world does a lot to show what these kids can do, and it increases the dramatic tension of the film as a whole. Cheaply made, but also very well made because a lot of thought was obviously put into it, Village of the Damned is a timeless thriller, even in black and white. When you watch a movie like this, if you are the kind of person who is so superficial about your movies that you refuse to watch black and white films, keep in mind that black and white photography REQUIRES good acting, to put it in the immortal words of Orson Welles. You can't have black and white photography and bad acting, the film would never work. Village of the Damned takes black and white photography and fills it with excellent acting, a fascinating story, and good direction that makes me wonder why this was the only film that Wolf Rilla ever directed.