Displaying items by tag: Clive Refill

THE HEADLESS GHOST

UK, 1959, 65 minutes, Black-and-white.

Richard Lyon, Lilian Sottane, David Rose, Clive Revill, Jack Allen, Alexander Archdale.

Directed by Peter Graham Scott.

Versatility in the title! This is a small, almost negligible film. American money was put into the British production, Horrors of the Black Museum and the supporting feature was required. This film, quickly written, filmed over two weeks, then became the second half of this British/American program in cinemas.

The basic plot is rather silly, three American tourists in England, visiting a castle as tourists (one referring to castles as old stones surrounded by a ditch!). The three actors in the lead are not persuasive as performers, stilted, sometimes awkward. They do the tour, hear the stories, especially narrated by the current ancestor, looking at the portraits, deciding to hide out overnight to get information for an article.

The film comes more alive with the appearance of Clive Revill, coming down from the painting, Revill giving a class in acting, enjoying his character and the revelations. Especially about the headless ghost and the need for him to recover his head and everybody live in peace.

There is a scene of a banquet, all ghosts enjoying themselves, the headless ghost present.

Complications, the owner and his assistant hearing noises, calling the police, the three Americans discovered, the arrival of the headless ghost, recovering his head, going back into the painting…

It could be a useful exercise for aspiring directors and actors to watch the film sequence by sequence and have discussions as to how they might have filmed each sequence differently and more effectively.