Daughter of Darkness (1948 film)

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Daughter of Darkness
"Daughter of Darkness" (1948).jpg
Directed by Lance Comfort
Produced by Victor Hanbury
Written by Max Catto
Based on play "They Walk Alone" by Max Catto
Starring Anne Crawford
Maxwell Reed
Siobhan McKenna
Music by Clifton Parker
Cinematography Stanley Pavey
Edited by Lito Carruthers
Production
company
Victor Hanbury Productions (in association with) (as Kenilworth)
Alliance Productions Ltd.
Distributed by Paramount British Pictures (UK)
Release dates
23 January 1948 (London) United Kingdom
27 March 1949 (USA)
Running time
91 min
Country United Kingdom
Language English

Daughter of Darkness is a 1948 British film, with macabre overtones, directed by Lance Comfort and starring Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed and - in the central role - Siobhan McKenna. Released in January 1948, it was based on a then ten-year-old play by Max Catto called They Walk Alone.[1] An expensive film for its day, it was shot at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London, and on location.[2][3] McKenna was offered a Hollywood contract following her memorable performance, but heeded the counsel of Laurence Olivier to remain in theatre work.[4]

Plot

In the small Irish town of Ballyconnen, Emmy Baudine (Siobhan McKenna) is a beautiful but disturbed young woman who works for the local priest. When the carnival comes to town, she encounters Dan (Maxwell Reed), a handsome young boxer – and lays his face open with her fingernails when he attempts to seduce her. Hurriedly packed off to Yorkshire by Father Corcoran (Liam Redmond), Emmy is taken in by a farming family and manages to suppress the strange feelings of fascination and revulsion that she experiences in the presence of the opposite sex. Until, that is, the carnival comes to town and she finds herself face to face with the vengeful Dan.[2]

Cast

<templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>

Critical reception

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

  • The Radio Times wrote, "an opportunity to see McKenna, one of the most compelling of Irish stage actresses, portraying a maniac with full-blooded commitment." [5]
  • TV Guide noted, "strong stuff for 1948." [6]
  • In his Guide to British Cinema, Geoff Mayer writes, "Daughter of Darkness, with a budget of two hundred thousand pounds and three weeks of location shooting in Cornwall, was not a financial success and represented a setback to Comfort's career, which saw him relegated to low-budget films in the 1950s and 1960s. Yet the film's mixture of gothic and horror establishes it as one of the most startling British films of the 1940s. " [7]

References

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links


<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>

<templatestyles src="Asbox/styles.css"></templatestyles>