UK, 1948
64m, 5779 feet
35mm, black and white
mono, English
A British horror film directed by Norman Lee.
Plot Summary
A magical monkey's paw finds its way into the hands of a man named Trelawne. He fails to heed the warnings, wishing for money to pay off his gambling debts only to be rewarded when his son Tom enters a motorcycle race. But the money isn't winnings, it's compensation for Tom's death during the race. A distraught Mrs Trelawne foolishly wishes that her son be restored to life. She momentarily believes her wish to have come true when she hears someone outside the door, but her increasingly panicky husband persuades her that there is no truth in claims of the paw's powers and lays the superstition to rest by ‘wishing' for his son to remain in his grave.
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Norman Lee
[copyright not given]
Butcher's Film Service Ltd.
Produced by: Ernest G. Roy
Associate Producers: Robert King, Barbara Toy
Screenplay by: Norman Lee and Barbara Toy
From the famous play by W.W. Jacobs
Director of Photography: Bryan Langley
Film Editor: Inman Hunter
Music Composed and Conducted by: Stanley Black
Sound Recordist: Charles T. Parkhouse
RCA Sound System
Furs by: Molho
Miss Seton's Gown by: Rocha
Make-up Artist: Sydney Hill
Art Directors: Victor Hembrow, George Ward
Produced at: Kay Carlton Hill Studios, St. John's Wood, London
Cast
Milton Rosmer (Mr Trelawne)
Megs Jenkins (Mrs Trelawne)
Joan Seton (Dorothy Lang)
Norman Shelley (Monoghan)
Michael Martin Harvey (Kelly)
Hay Petrie (Grimshaw)
Mackenzie Ward (Noel Lang)
Eric Micklewood (Tom Trelawne)
Brenda Hogan (Beryl)
Patrick Ward (Sergeant Lawson)
Alfie Bass (speedway track manager)
Rose Howlett (Mrs Gurney)
Vincent Lawson (Morgan)
Sydney Tafler (the dealer)
References
Periodicals
- Kinematograph Weekly no.2147 (24 June 1948) – review
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.15 no.175 (July 1948) p.92 (UK) – credits, synopsis, review
- Today's Cinema vol.70 no.5662 (18 June 1948) – review
Books
- British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928-1959 by David Quinlan p.231 – credits, synopsis
- English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby pp.40, 41,
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.312 – credits
- Unsung Horrors by Eric McNaughton & Darrell Buxton (eds) p.54 – illustrated review (by Paul Goodhead)
