USA, UK, 1952
71m 40s [UK – theatrical], 6,500 feet
35mm, black and white
mono
An American/British science fiction film directed by Terence Fisher.
Plot Summary
Dr Philip Ritter, a Harley Street plastic surgeon, works hard at both his practice and at a women’s prison where he does charity work. While taking an enforced holiday for the sake of his health, he meets and falls in love with American pianist Alice Brent and they begin an affair, despite Alice’s already being engaged to her manager David. When Alice leaves on a concert tour with David, Ritter uses one of his disfigured prison patients Lily in a bizarre experiment – he remodels her face into an exact copy of Alice and then marries her. He hopes to prove his theory that giving Lily a beautiful face will somehow ‘cure’ her of the criminal tendencies, but a leopard can’t change its spots and Lily causes Ritter a good deal of grief. Life gets worse when Alice returns having split up with David – Ritter tries to leave for an appointment in Plymouth but an enraged Lily, now aware of whose face she is wearing, insists on coming with him…
Credits
* = uncredited
Crew
Directed by: Terence Fisher
A Lippert Pictures presentation. Hammer Film Productions *
Produced by: Anthony Hinds
Production Manager: Arthur Barnes
Screenplay by: Martin Berkeley, Richard H. Landau
Based on an original story by Alexander Paal, Steven Vas
Assistant Director: Jimmy Sangster
2nd Assistant Director: Bill Shore *
3rd Assistant Director: Len Lee *
Continuity: Renee Glynne *
Director of Photography: Walter Harvey
Camera Operator: Peter Bryan
2nd Camera Operator: E. Ford *
Focus Puller: Neil Binney *
Clapper Loader: Tom Friswell *
Stills: John Jay *
Editor: Maurice Rootes
Assembly Editor: Bill Lenny *
Music by: Malcolm Arnold
Recorded by: London Philharmonic Orchestra
Solo Pianist: Miss Bronwyn Jones
Specialty Numbers: Jack Parnell
Recordist: Bill Salter
Sound Camera Operator: Gordon Everett *
Boom Operator: Percy Britten *
RCA Sound System
Lizbeth Scott’s Wardrobe by: Edith Head
Furs by: Deanfield of London & Paris
Make Up: Philip Leakey
Hair Stylist: Bill Griffiths
Art Director: Wilfred Arnold
Draughtsman: Alec Gray *
Produced at: Hammersmith-Riverside Studios, London, England, UK
Casting Director: Nora Roberts
Cast
Paul Henreid (Dr Philip Ritter)
Lizabeth Scott (Alice Brent/Lily Conover (after surgery))
André Morell (David)
Mary Mackenzie (Lily Conover (before surgery))
John Wood (Dr Jack Wilson)
Arnold Ridley (Dr Russell)
Susan Stephen (Betty)
Diana Beaumont (May)
Terence O’Regan (Pete)
Everley Gregg [Lady Millicent Harringay] *
Cyril Smith [Alf] *
Grace Gavin [hospital pre-surgical nurse] *
Alexis France [Mrs Emmett] *
John Bull [Charles Emmett] *
Dorothy Bramhall [Miss Simpson] *
Ambrosine Phillpotts [Miss Patten] *
Russell Napier [Detective Cutler] *
Hal Osmond [photographer] *
Howard Douglas [farmer] *
Frank Hawkins, John Warren [commercial travelers] *
Richard Wattis [store manager] *
Janet Burnell [Maggie] *
William Murray [floor walker] *
James Valentine [soldier] *
Bartlett Mullins [third farmer] *
Robert Brooks Turner [uncredited
Philip Vickers [1st soldier] *
Ben Williams *
Alternative Titles
Volto rubato – Italy
References
Periodicals
- Cine-Technician vol.18 no.98 (September/October 1952) p.111 – credits
- Daily Film Renter vol.26 no.6323 (23 April 1952) pp.5, 8 – review
- Kine Weekly no.2339 (24 April 1952) p.23 – credits, review
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.19 no.221 (June 1952) pp.81-82 – credits, synopsis, review
- Motion Picture Herald vol.187 no.10 (7 June 1952) p.1389 – review
- Music From The Movies no.14/15 (Spring 1997) pp.30-32, 34 – illustrated article (Malcolm Arnold: A 75th Birthday Tribute, Part One by Christopher Ritchie)
- Today’s Cinema vol.78 no.6487 (22 April 1952) p.12 – review (by J.G.W.)
- Variety 28 May 1952 – credits, review (by Brog)
Books
- Armchair Cinema: A History of Feature Films on British Television, 1929-1981 by Sheldon Hall p.97
- The Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Horror by Phil Hardy (ed.) p.100
- British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928-1959 by David Quinlan p.378 – credits, synopsis
- The Charm of Evil: The Life and Films of Terence Fisher by Wheeler Winston Dixon pp.116, 141-157, 222, 271, 436; 491-493 – notes; credits
- English Gothic by Jonathan Rigby pp.35, 73 (Richmond, UK: Reynolds & Hearn Ltd (2000)) – note
- Euro Gothic: Classics of Continental Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby p.113
- The Films of Terence Fisher: Hammer Horror and Beyond by Wheeler Winston Dixon pp.100, 107, 111-124, 132, 219, 359
- Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company by Howard Maxford pp.767-769 – illustrated credits, synopsis, review
- A History of Horrors: The Rise and Fall of the House of Hammer (Revised Edition) by Denis Meikle pp.12, 14, 17 – notes, review
- Terence Fisher by Peter Hutchings pp.57; 63-69; 127 – notes
- Terence Fisher: Horror, Myth and Religion by Paul Leggett pp.4, 118, 124 – notes
