After leaving the British Secret Service, David Somers finds work catalouging butterflies at the country house of Nicholas and Jess Fenton. After the murder of a local gamekeeper, suspicion falls on their niece, Sophie Malraux. Somers helps Sophie to escape arrest and they go on the run together.
Cinematography
Stunning location work—Liverpool docks never looked so ominous.
Acting
Jean Simmons radiates fragile mystery; Trevor Howard smolders with restraint.
Direction
Ralph Thomas channels Hitchcock on a British budget—tight, inventive, cruel.
Director
Ralph Thomas
Jean Simmons
Sophie Malraux
Trevor Howard
Maj. David Somers
Sonia Dresdel
Jess Fenton
Barry Jones
Nicholas Fenton
Kenneth More
Willy Shepley
Geoffrey Keen
Police Inspector
André Morell
Secret Service Chief Chubb (as Andre Morell)
Michael Brennan
Police Superintendent
Gerard Heinz
Dr. Karl Cesare
Eric Pohlmann
Taxidermist
Richard Wattis
Employment Agent
Sandra Dorne
Kyra
Maire O'Neill
Nora
Maxwell Reed
Hick
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was one of the first British films to shoot extensively on location in Liverpool, using bomb-damaged streets as noir backdrop.
Released the same year as Hitchcock's Stage Fright, it proves Britain could do paranoid romance without importing Hollywood.
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