The Man in Black ** (1949, Betty Ann Davies, Sidney James, Anthony Forwood, Sheila Burrell, Valentine Dyall) – Classic Movie Review 11,035

Director Francis Searle’s artificial but intriguing 1949 British Hammer Films Gaslight-style thriller The Man in Black stars Sidney James as a yoga expert called Henry Clavering, who pretends to be dead, using his yoga skills, to flush out his evil second wife Bertha (Betty Anne Davies), and her daughter, who are trying to send his daughter by his first marriage crazy to get their hands on the money she has been bequeathed by the first wife.

A film noir-style thriller, with some horror film elements, it is fairly well made, decently acted and reasonably scripted by John Gilling, based on the radio series Appointment with Fear by John Dickson Carr.

Also in the cast are Valentine Dyall as your story teller The Man in Black, Hazel Penwarden, Courtney Hope, Laurence Baskcomb, Mollie Palmer, Gerald Case, and David Keir. Hazel Penwarden gets an ‘introducing’ credit. Her later career was almost entirely on TV.

It is shot at the Victorian Gothic country house of Oakley Court, Windsor Road, Oakley Green, Windsor, Berkshire, England. Oakley Court became home to Hammer Films in August 1949, shooting five films there, including The Lady Craved Excitement, before moving to the adjacent Down Place, subsequently Bray Studios, the following year. Betty Anne Davies (1910–1955) died from complications as the result of an operation for appendicitis, aged 44.

The Man in Black is directed by Francis Searle, runs 80 minutes, is made by Hammer Films, is released by Exclusive, is written by John Gilling (screenplay) and Francis Searle (original story), based on the radio series Appointment with Fear by John Dickson Carr, is shot in black and white by Cedric Williams, is produced by Anthony Hines, is scored by Rupert Grayson and Frank Spencer, and designed by Denis Wreford. Jimmy Sangster is assistant director.

Anthony Forwood was born on October 3, 1915 in Weymouth, England. He was married to Glynis Johns from 1942 to 1948, with one child, the actor Gareth Forwood, and then was Sir Dirk Bogarde’s life partner and manager until his death in 1988.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,035

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