And we end our look at Hammer this year with an odd little thriller.
Susan Roberts (Stephanie Powers) is a student who lucked out. Her area of study is music, and she's managed to get herself invited to the home of the late Henry Ryman, arguably one of the greatest composers of his day, at least according to Susan.
Arriving at the remote villa, Susan meets his family. There's wheelchair and drug addled son Georges (James Olson) and the secretive widow Danielle (Margaretta Scott). Things grow sinister quickly, as Susan notes that maid Liliane (Jane Lapotaire) seems unusually fixated on the son, while everyone seems to note that Susan is a dead ringer for Georges' first girlfriend Catherine; add the Ryman music being played at odd hours and the music room filled with mannequins, and you've got some creepiness going on. Can Susan figure it out in time?
Very similar to A Taste of Fear, much to the film's demerit. Thrills are set up, but things are too sedate, except when Liliane vamps on screen. Not a terrible film or story, but you can see the slow decline of the studio. It feels like an also-ran, or Hammer trying to ape the films of other studios.
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