An English family relocates to Canada where the father (Patrick Allen) has accepted a position as a school principal. However, when his 9 year old daughter (Janina Faye), along with her friend (Frances Green), is molested by an aging pedophile (Felix Aylmer), he finds himself an outsider as the town looks the other way as the pedophile is the patriarch of the town's most influential family. A film that can be truly called ahead of its time, this disturbing film is still shocking even though it was made over 50 years ago. Child sexual abuse wasn't as open or talked about in 1960 as it is today and the film's graphic depiction must have seemed sordid and unpleasant (it still is) to audiences back then. The scene where the defense lawyer harasses and twists the child's testimony in order to discredit her is quite abhorrent. Since this was a Hammer film, the film is at times an uneasy mixture of horror and social commentary. A scene where Aylmer (who doesn't speak a word in the entire film) chases the two little girls through the woods is right out of
FRANKENSTEIN! Still, to the film's credit though some of it seems psychologically naive by today's standards, it follows its story to its dark conclusion rather than giving us a pat ending. Directed by Cyril Frankel from a play by Roger Garis. With Gwen Watford, Niall MacGinnis and Robert Arden (Welles'
MR. ARKADIN). For its U.S. release, the word sweets was changed to candy.
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