After a disappointing "opening-out" of Edgar Wallace's stage play in which most of the action occurs off-camera and we are treated to a long montage of library footage as ten years struggle by, "The Terror" moves into high gear once the curtain rises on Monk's Hall Priory. We like the idea of hiding the identities of both killer and detective from the audience (though few patrons will have trouble working these out). Bird's direction of the dialogue scenes is nothing out of the ordinary, but Mycroft comes to the rescue with some splendid action material in which excellent sets, props and costumes are atmospherically augmented by astute camera angles.
Linden Travers makes a charmingly sympathetic heroine, while Bernard Lee handles an unusual role as a soak, which he brings off to perfection. He also has the benefit of some of the screenplay's best lines.
Alastair Sim also does credit to an unusual part (indeed two parts), and the rest of the support line-up is equally solid. I'll refrain from complimenting the entire cast, starting with the wonderfully charismatic Wilfrid Lawson, but I will say I particularly enjoyed Stanley Lathbury's performance. A stage actor who made very few movies, Lathbury brilliantly plays the butler with exactly the right air of suspicious menace.
Linden Travers makes a charmingly sympathetic heroine, while Bernard Lee handles an unusual role as a soak, which he brings off to perfection. He also has the benefit of some of the screenplay's best lines.
Alastair Sim also does credit to an unusual part (indeed two parts), and the rest of the support line-up is equally solid. I'll refrain from complimenting the entire cast, starting with the wonderfully charismatic Wilfrid Lawson, but I will say I particularly enjoyed Stanley Lathbury's performance. A stage actor who made very few movies, Lathbury brilliantly plays the butler with exactly the right air of suspicious menace.