The House in Marsh Road [Invisible Creature] ** (1960, Tony Wright, Patricia Dainton, Sandra Dorne) – Classic Movie Review 13,064

The 1960 British horror mystery suspense film The House in Marsh Road, aka Invisible Creature, stars Tony Wright, Patricia Dainton and Sandra Dorne. It is one of the first films to use the word ‘poltergeist’.

Director Montgomery Tully’s 1960 British black and white horror mystery suspense B film The House in Marsh Road, aka Invisible Creature, stars Tony Wright, Patricia Dainton and Sandra Dorne. It is one of the first films to use the word ‘poltergeist’.

There’s a murder conspiracy by writer David Linton (Tony Wright) and his lover Valerie Stockley (Sandra Dorne) to kill his wife Jean Linton (Patricia Dainton) in a country house in Britain. But the Invisible Creature – a benevolent poltergeist – has other ideas, seeking to protect the wife from her homicidal husband.

This low-budget, pretty weak mix of the supernatural chiller and crime thriller is interesting but has faded badly. The House in Marsh Road is not a bad try, but the acting, direction and production are all very feeble and unconvincing. It is a haunted house mystery suspense film without very much mystery or suspense.

It is shot at Merton Park Studios, Walton-on-Thames, in the UK and produced by Maurice J Wilson, who also writes the screenplay, based on the 1955 novel The House in Marsh Road by Laurence Meynell.

Cinema release date: November 1960 (UK).

It went straight to TV in the US as Invisible Creature.

The cast are Tony Wright as David Linton, Patricia Dainton as Jean Linton, Sandra Dorne as Valerie Stockley, Derek Aylward as Richard Foster, Sam Kydd as Morris Lumley, Llewellyn Rees as Webster, Anita Sharp-Bolster as Mrs. O’Brien, Roddy Hughes as Daniels, Harry Hutchinson as Pub Landlord, Olive Sloane as Mrs. Morris, Geoffrey Denton as Police Inspector, and Olga Dickie as Hotel Proprietress.

The House in Marsh Road [Invisible Creature] is directed by Montgomery Tully, runs 70 minutes, is made by Eternal Films and Merton Park Studios, is released by Grand National Pictures (UK), is written by Maurice J Wilson, is shot in black and white by James Harvey, is produced by Maurice J Wilson and is scored by John Veale.

Renown Productions released it with Norman Lee’s 1948 British horror film The Monkey’s Paw (1948) for DVD in the UK with a PG rating on 8 May 2013. It had an A-certificate in 1960 as ‘more suitable for adults’.

It screens on Talking Pictures TV in the UK as The House in Marsh Road, starting on 11 October 2019.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,064

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