Devil Doll *** (1964, Bryant Haliday, William Sylvester, Yvonne Romain, Sandra Dorne, Karel Stepanek, Philip Ray) – Classic Movie Review 3,120

Co-producer/director Lindsay Shonteff’s low-budget gothic 1964 British horror movie Devil Doll stars Bryant Halliday as the evil hypnotist/ ventriloquist The Great Vorelli.

Vorelli puts heiress Marianne Horn (Yvonne Romain), the girlfriend of an American reporter called Mark English (William Sylvester), into a coma and swaps her soul into his ventriloquist’s dummy, Hugo.

Plotting to gain the heiress’s millions, Vorelli tricks Hugo into killing his jealous sexy mistress Magda (Sandra Dorne), while establishing he has an alibi. elsewhere. But then Mark investigates and discovers another killing linked to Vorelli, of a man called Hugo.

An eerie atmosphere, decent camerawork and capable performances from a good cast, particularly from a spooky Halliday, highlight this creepy, carefully made British chiller that deserves to be better known.

Also in the cast are Karel Stepanek, Philip Ray, Nora Nicholson, Alan Gifford, Francis De Wolff, David Charlesworth, Guy Deghy, Ray Landor, Margaret Durnell, Trixie Dallas and Lorenza Colville.

It runs 81 minutes. It is shot by Gerald Gibbs.

The doll shares its name of Hugo with the ventriloquist dummy in the similarly themed segment of Dead of Night (1945).

Frederick E Smith wrote the story for London Mystery Magazine in 1951, earning only £10 for sole rights, and Ronald Kinnoch wrote the film script in 1957. Producer Richard Gordon obtained the film rights in 1959. The film was funded by Gordon Films, Galaworld and the NFFC for £20,000.

Original director Sidney J Furie baled when he got a better offer and recommended fellow Canadian Lindsay Shonteff, but advised him throughout production. Devil Doll was Toronto-born Shonteff’s film debut in Britain.

Shonteff had to re-edit the film to avoid an X rating from the British Board of Film Censors. This version for the UK and Canada market and the original one shown in Europe have both been released on DVD. The Special Edition DVD has both. The European version includes bare breasts and a strip tease that is done under hypnosis.

The movie was distributed by Associated Film Distributing Corp. It was released on VHS by Gorgon Video in 1985.

The cast are Bryant Haliday as The Great Vorelli, William Sylvester as Mark English, Yvonne Romain as Marianne Horn, Sandra Dorne as Magda Cardenas, Nora Nicholson as Aunt Eva, Alan Gifford as Bob Garrett, Karel Stepanek as Dr Heller, Francis De Wolff as Dr Keisling, David Charlesworth, Guy Deghy, Ray Landor, Margaret Durnell, Trixie Dallas and Lorenza Colville.

Lindsay Craig Shonteff (5 November 1935 – 11 March 2006).

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 3,120

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