Fiend without a Face *** (1958, Marshall Thompson, Kynaston Reeves, Terry Kilburn, Kim Parker) – Classic Movie Review 8145

‘New Horrors! Mad Science Spawns Evil Fiends! …Taking form before your horrified eyes!’ Director Arthur Crabtree’s 1957 British-made, pretend-American black and white horror movie Fiend without a Face is rather fiendish, with a spooky climax, an intelligent script and effective playing from a minor cast headed by Kynaston Reeves, Terry Kilburn and Marshall Thompson.

At a distant US Army base in Canada, an experiment about the power of thought goes wrong and the id of an inventor- scientist, Professor R E Walgate (Reeves), creates ugly little ghoulies that look like brains with tails but are remarkably agile and hungry for human flesh. When Major Jeff Cummings (Thompson) is called in to investigate, he finds a number of mangled bodies.

Thought to be quite gory in its day, it is of course very tame now, but even so it hasn’t dated too badly.

The screenplay by Herbert J Leder is based on the story The Thought Monster by Amelia Reynolds Long.

Also in the cast are Kim Parker, Michael Balfour, Stanley Maxted, Peter Madden, Gil Winfield, Robert MacKenzie, Lala Lloyd, R Meadows White and James Dyrenforth.

It was made for £50,000! Those were the days!

Fiend without a Face is directed by Arthur Crabtree, runs 73 minutes, is made by Producers Associates and Amalgamated Productions, distributed by Eros Films (UK) and MGM (US), is written by Herbert J Leder, based on the story The Thought Monster by Amelia Reynolds Long, is shot in black and white by Lionel Banes, is produced by John Croydon, is scored by Buxton Orr and is designed by John Elphick, with special effects by Florenz von Nordhoff, K L Ruppel and Peter Nielson.

MGM distributed it in America on the lower half of a double-bill with Torpedo Run (1958).

Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion (1965) and its spinoff TV series Daktari (1966-1969) finally turned Marshall Thompson (1925–1992) into a household name star. He made Fiend without a Face the same year as It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8145

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