Peter Carter, his wife Sally and their young daughter Jean move to a sleepy Canadian village, where Peter has been hired as a school principal. Their idyll is shattered when Jean becomes the victim of an elderly, and extremely powerful, paedophile. The film was neither a box office nor a critical success, it garnered criticism for breaking a significant public taboo.
Acting
Janina Faye's devastating understatement as Jean.
Direction
Frankel films horror in broad daylight, no shadows needed.
Writing
Screenplay dares what 1960 audiences refused to hear.
Director
Cyril Frankel
Patrick Allen
Peter Carter
Gwen Watford
Sally Carter
Janina Faye
Jean Carter
Felix Aylmer
Clarence Olderberry Sr.
Niall MacGinnis
Defense Counsel
Michael Gwynn
Prosecutor
Alison Leggatt
Martha
Bill Nagy
Clarence Olderberry Jr.
MacDonald Parke
Judge
Estelle Brody
Eunice Kalliduke
Robert Arden
Tom Demarest
Helen Horton
Sylvia Kingsley
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Hammer Films—yes, THE Hammer Horror—produced this, pivoting from monsters to real human evil.
Felix Aylmer played Clarence after decades of kindly patriarchs; casting subverted his image as 'trustworthy elder'.
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