Someone at the Door ** (1950, Michael Medwin, Garry Marsh, Yvonne Owen, Hugh Latimer, Danny Green) – Classic Movie Review 11,039

‘Let yourself in for a Big Laugh!’

Director Francis Searle’s 1950 British Hammer Films black and white comedy mystery thriller Someone at the Door stars Michael Medwin, Yvonne Owen, Garry Marsh, Hugh Latimer, Danny Green, Campbell Singer and John Kelly.

Hammer Films studios rework a 1936 film and an old play by Major Campbell Christie and Dorothy Christie about a newsman writer Ronnie Martin (Medwin) and his sister Sally (Owen) who are bequeathed a large supposedly haunted homestead country home, not knowing that there is stolen loot hidden there, and then the thieves are trying to scare the two to leave the house by making it sound haunted so they can get their hands on the loot. But the siblings foolishly make up the story that the newsman brother has killed his sister, so that he will make a fortune, and then a pair of actual murders happens for real and they find a police officer, Inspector Spedding (Singer), on their trail.

Brief, basic and down to earth, this long-forgotten little thriller is a reminder of the far-off days when Hammer Films were making interesting thriller fillers before they found their true image with horror.

It is a Hammer/Exclusive film, with Anthony Hinds as producer and Jimmy Sangster as assistant director.

In August 1949, Hammer move into the mansion of Oakley Court on the banks of the River Thames between Windsor and Maidenhead and produced five films there: The Man in Black (1949), Room to Let (1949), Someone at the Door (1949), What the Butler Saw (1950), and The Lady Craved Excitement (1950).

Someone at the Door is directed by Francis Searle, runs 65 minutes, is made by Hammer Films, is released by Exclusive Films (1950) (UK), is written by A R Rawlinson, based on the play by Campbell Christie and Dorothy Christie, is shot in black and white by Walter J Harvey, is produced by Anthony Hinds, is scored by Frank Spencer and is designed by Denis Wreford.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,039

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