Movie Review: Scream of Fear (1961) directed by Seth Holt (British title: “Taste of Fear”)
Ten years ago, the Applebys divorced, and Mrs. Appleby got custody of their daughter Penny Appleby (Susan Strasberg). They moved to Italy. Eight years ago, Penny had a riding accident and lost the use of her legs. Three years ago, her mother died, and she was left alone with only her long-time companion. Three weeks ago, her companion drowned, an apparent suicide, and her father sent a letter inviting her to his home on the French Riviera near Cannes.
But when Penny arrives at the villa, she is met by Jane Appleby (Ann Todd), her father’s second wife and thus her stepmother. Her father’s been called away on “business” and it must have been important as he left despite having a non-specified medical condition, and without his chauffeur, Robert (Ronald Lewis). Jane’s installed a couple of wheelchair ramps in the villa where practical, but most of the building is closed off to Penny by steep stairs or locks with out-of-reach keys. She can’t even leave the estate without being carried by Robert! The only other servant at this time is Marie (Anne Blake) the housekeeper, who does not live in the villa so is usually absent at night.
That night, Penny sees a light in the supposedly locked “summer house.” When she investigates, she sees what appears to be her father Mr. Appleby (Fred Johnson)–and he’s dead! Retreating in fear, Penny accidentally wheels herself into the swimming pool. When she awakens, she’s tended by her father’s friend and frequent visitor Dr. Pierre Gerard (Christopher Lee). There is, of course, no corpse in the summer house, which has been locked up for months. (It’s winter, by the way.)
A series of other events involving music no one else hears from a locked piano and the corpse reappearing and re-vanishing convinces Penny that either she’s going mad…or someone is trying to drive her mad. If Mr. Appleby is truly dead, then Penny gets the money except for a pittance for Jane, but if Penny is deceased or “incompetent”, then Jane gets it all. Dr. Gerard seems deeply concerned for Penny’s mental state, and is chummier with Jane than the official “friend of your father’s” description would imply. Robert is acting sympathetic, but can he be trusted? Can anyone in the villa be trusted?
This is another of the black and white thrillers Hammer Films produced before they went all-in on horror. The lack of color helps disguise that it wasn’t shot in Southern France, but their usual locations in England. It’s nicely suspenseful, and has an excellent ending. Christopher Lee described it as the best of the Hammer movies he was in, but he may have meant “favorite.”
While Mr. Lee is quite good in his role despite a dubious French accent, he’s more of a supporting role in this one, and not the main reason to see the movie. Ms. Strasburg is excellent as Penny, getting a lot of emotional range, and the other actors also do a good job.
I have difficulty dealing with “is this character crazy or not” stories, so some scenes, especially the one where Dr. Gerard suggests that Penny’s paraplegia is psychosomatic and that her disappearing evidence might also all be in her head, were hard to sit through. The story does resolve this subplot well.
There’s a nicely creepy atmosphere and a couple of well-distributed jump scares.
Content note: murder, suicide, corpses, implied marital infidelity. Some dubious treatment of mental and physical disability. At one point Robert wears swim trunks that would have been scandalously brief and tight for 1961 Britain. Older teens on up, maybe younger teens if adults are present for guidance.
