The Man in Black, 1949.
Directed by Francis Searle.
Starring Betty Ann Davies, Sidney James, Sheila Burrell, Anthony Forwood, Hazel Penwarding, and Valentine Dyall.
SYNOPSIS:
A woman and her daughter conspire to steal her stepdaughter’s inheritance after the mysterious death of her husband.
Henry Clavering (Sidney James) is a rich man with a keen interest in yoga and eastern philosophy, but he is also a man who is concerned about his death and what his greedy wife Bertha (Betty Ann Davies) and her equally selfish daughter Janice (Sheila Burrell) will do with his wealth, despite him leaving most of it to his daughter Joan (Hazel Penwarding) as long as she remains in good mental health.
One night, Henry gives a demonstration of his yoga techniques, telling the gathered crowd that he is able to slow his body down to the point that he dies and then revive himself, but it is dangerous and he must have complete silence.to achieve this. Unfortunately, a picture falls off the wall and makes a crashing sound, which breaks Henry’s trance and he dies. Bertha, Janice and Janice’s fiancé Victor (Anthony Forwood) immediately start scheming to try and drive Joan mad, which would mean her £250,000 inheritance goes to Bertha, although the groundskeeper Hodson may be able to help as he seems to know a lot about his employer’s wife and what she gets up to.
Based on The Man in Black radio mysteries of the 1940s, this movie version is essentially a Hammer B-movie that lacks a lot of the usual studio talent on both sides of the camera (although Anthony Hinds’ and Jimmy Sangster’s names do appear in the credits). However, we do get Sid (credited as ‘Sidney’) James playing a very different part from the saucy comedy roles he is known for in the Carry On… series, and he plays this more serious part very well, although it is very jarring hearing him speak with a slightly plummy accent. Luckily, we don’t get to hear him speak with it for very long, although there is a lot of talking in this movie as it veers into kitchen sink drama territory after the initial yoga demonstration, which is clearly there to add a bit of mystery and mysticism, although hindsight tells us that Sid James being an expert in yoga is probably more comedic than anything else he ever did.
Nevertheless, The Man in Black is a fairly solid little thriller that doesn’t outstay its welcome, coming in at a fairly lean 78 minutes, and having a few twists and turns to try and throw you off what is really going on. The truth is, anyone with any sense of movie language will have it figured out about five minutes after Sid James’ character does his yoga, but in the context of when it originally came out you can imagine audiences being a little more surprised, although given how it plays out it the radio is probably the better medium to enjoy it fully.
Bookended by the silky-voiced Valentine Dyall playing the titular man in black – who is basically a narrator with a small part to play in the framing story – The Man in Black has been given the same Hammer box set treatment as all of their recent releases, coming in a clean and crisp black-and-white 4K UHD print that belies the fact this film was shot over 70 years ago. There are two new audio commentaries – one from House of Hammer Podcast hosts Lizbeth Myles and Paul Cornell, the other by writer Will Fowler and film historian Melanie Williams – to add plenty of context, award-winning authors Martin Edwards and Andrew Taylor in conversation about the Detection Club, a long-running club for mystery writers, and writers Jonathan Rigby and Vic Pratt discussing the career of Valentine Dyall. You also get three audio episodes of Suspense, a US radio play series introduced by The Man in Black, which are fun to listen to once you’ve watched the main feature.
Overall, The Man in Black isn’t really essential Hammer, or even an essential murder mystery film, but it is light-hearted and short enough to be an enjoyable watch if you have 80-odd minutes to fill. Collector’s will naturally want to own this set to go with their other rejuvenated Hammer titles, but for casual viewers the only real curiosity about it if you are unfamiliar is seeing Sid James in a straight role, but it is a role that fits him extremely well.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Chris Ward
