Former chemistry professor Douglass Montgomery creates and sells all kinds of potions on the Blackpool funfair, to make ends meet while his wife Patricia Burke buys tons of clothes and tries to revive her theater career. At the funfair he meets ice-cream seller Hazel Court and they hit it off. But Burke won't give Montgomery a divorce however, at least not until she no longer has any use for him. When he sees her faint due to taking too many slimming pills, he sees an opportunity to get rid of Burke a different way and replaces her pills with more lethal ones. The plan works, and he buries her under the floor of his warehouse. Only to find afterwards Burke didn't take the replaced pills after all!
Told in flashback for the majority of the movie, this is a nice British noir-ish thriller with more than a few Hitchcockian touches. Hammer horror scream queen Court ('Dear Murderer') and Burke ('The Lisbon Story') are great here in their respective roles, Court charming and sweet, Burke selfish and cold. Montgomery ('The Cat And The Canary') has way less presence and comes across as a poor man's Michael Redgrave, making the viewer care less about his (ironic) predicament. Thankfully the women's performances help level out Montgomery's average one.
This was to be director George King's ('The Shop At Sly Corner') last movie and he does a good job, the movie has a nice pace and he knows how to create tension. Together with DoP Hone Glendinning ('The Scarlet Web') whom he worked with several times before they give this movie a well above-average look with plenty of shadows. They also make great use of on-location shots on the Blackpool funfair as well as on its iconic tower. All in all, a good movie that is let down a bit by Montgonery's blase performance and lack of charisma. This movie was released in the States as 'Scarlet Heaven' btw and has some additional scenes as well as some voice-over narration. Both versions are available on a DVD released by Network in the UK.
Told in flashback for the majority of the movie, this is a nice British noir-ish thriller with more than a few Hitchcockian touches. Hammer horror scream queen Court ('Dear Murderer') and Burke ('The Lisbon Story') are great here in their respective roles, Court charming and sweet, Burke selfish and cold. Montgomery ('The Cat And The Canary') has way less presence and comes across as a poor man's Michael Redgrave, making the viewer care less about his (ironic) predicament. Thankfully the women's performances help level out Montgomery's average one.
This was to be director George King's ('The Shop At Sly Corner') last movie and he does a good job, the movie has a nice pace and he knows how to create tension. Together with DoP Hone Glendinning ('The Scarlet Web') whom he worked with several times before they give this movie a well above-average look with plenty of shadows. They also make great use of on-location shots on the Blackpool funfair as well as on its iconic tower. All in all, a good movie that is let down a bit by Montgonery's blase performance and lack of charisma. This movie was released in the States as 'Scarlet Heaven' btw and has some additional scenes as well as some voice-over narration. Both versions are available on a DVD released by Network in the UK.