''Taste of Fear'' (U.S. title: ''Scream of Fear'') is a 1961 British

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Seth Holt Seth Holt (21 July 1923 – 14 February 1971) was a Palestinian-born British film director, producer and editor. His films are characterized by their tense atmosphere and suspense, as well as their striking visual style. In the 1960s, ''Movie' ...

. The film stars

Susan Strasberg Susan Elizabeth Strasberg (May 22, 1938 – January 21, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actress. Thought to be the next Audrey Hepburn, Hepburn-type Ingénue, ingenue, she was nominated for a Tony Award at age 18, playing the ti ...

, Ronald Lewis,

Ann Todd Dorothy Ann Todd (24 January 1907 – 6 May 1993) was an English film, television and stage actress who achieved international fame when she starred in '' The Seventh Veil'' (1945). From 1949 to 1957 she was married to David Lean who directed ...

, and

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a career spanning more than sixty years, Lee became known as an actor with a deep and commanding voice who often portrayed villains in horr ...

in a supporting role.

Plot

After the suicide of her best friend, wheelchair-user heiress Penny Appleby arrives at her estranged father's estate on the

French Riviera The French Riviera, known in French as the (; , ; ), is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is considered to be the coastal area of the Alpes-Maritimes department, extending fr ...

. Her stepmother, whom Penny has only just met, informs her that the father has been called away on business. She cannot say when he will return or why he left when he was expecting Penny's arrival. Although the stepmother has made the place comfortable for Penny, the young woman does not trust her. That night she believes she sees her father's corpse in the guest cottage. When others respond to her hysterical screams, the corpse is not there. The stepmother tries to convince Penny that her recent tragedy is causing her to hallucinate, and the family doctor cites Penny's history of neurotic behaviour to support that view. The family chauffeur meets Penny privately to say he believes Penny did see something unusual, even if not a corpse. He offers to help her investigate. As they proceed, Penny begins to wonder if he is really an ally or if he is leading her away from the truth. When a police detective begins his own investigation, he suspects that Penny may have secrets of her own.

Cast

as Penny Appleby * Ronald Lewis as Robert *

as Jane Appleby *

as Doctor Gerrard * John Serret as Inspector Legrand *

Leonard Sachs Leonard Meyer Sachs (26 September 1909 – 15 June 1990) was a South African-born British actor. Life and career Sachs was born in the town of Roodepoort, in the then Transvaal Colony, present day South Africa. He was Jewish. He emigrated ...

as Spratt * Anne Blake as Marie * Fred Johnson as Father

Production

Jimmy Sangster James Henry Kinmel Sangster (2 December 1927 – 19 August 2011) was a Welsh screenwriter and film director, best known for his work on the initial horror films made by Hammer Film Productions, including '' The Curse of Frankenstein'' (1957) an ...

stated that he originally wrote the film for

Sidney Box Sidney Box (1873 – April 1958) was a British trade unionist and political activist. Box was one of seventeen children, but was orphaned at the age of eight and began working as an agricultural labourer. A keen Methodist, he began preaching wh ...

who assigned him to produce it. The film was going to be part of a slate of films from Sydney Box Associates for Rank called ''See No Evil''. According to Sangster, Box became ill and stopped his work temporarily, leading his work to be taken over by his brother-in-law

Peter Rogers Peter Rogers (20 February 1914 – 14 April 2009) was an English film producer. He is best known for creating the ''Carry On'' series of films. Life and career Rogers began his career as a journalist for his local paper, before graduat ...

, who was busy working on the ''Carry On'' series. Sangster then bought the film back from Rogers and sold it to

Michael Carreras Michael Henry Carreras (21 December 1927 – 19 April 1994) was a British film producer and director. He was known for his association with Hammer Films, being the son of founder James Carreras, and taking an executive role in the compan ...

on the condition that Sangster would be allowed to produce. Filming began at Bray Studios in Berkshire on 24 October 1960. It was the first of three films Holt directed for Hammer and the second of three films Ronald Lewis starred in for the studio.

Release

''Taste of Fear'' was distributed in the UK on 5 June 1961 and US on 22 August 1961, but retitled ''Scream of Fear'' for the latter; otherwise the two releases are identical. The film was a success in both countries and very popular in Europe, becoming one of Hammer's most profitable productions and leading to a cycle of similar films. In March 2013,

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

announced a remake directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, whose previous credits include the acclaimed 2007 Spanish horror film, '' The Orphanage''.

Reception

Box office

''Kinematograph Weekly'' said the film "got comfortably by here and has done a-burster in the States."

Critical

''Variety'' called it "contrived but expertly executed." ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "''Taste of Fear'' suggests the work of a scriptwriter dangerously overstimulated by ''Psycho'' and ''Les Diaboliques'' and determined to find even more variations to play on the theme of the peripatetic corpse. Jimmy Sangster is too deep in the Hammer tradition to achieve much finesse. ...The plot, although it twists like a cork-screw in its final sequences, is a good deal less impenetrable than its creator might like to think; and even the final images, of Ann Todd (who has played with a nice neurotic edge) smashed on the rocks, and Susan Strasberg rather smugly triumphant on the clifftop, achieve no great surprise. But, within the limitations of material which is frankly tosh, Seth Holt has done a professional job. All those creaking shutters, flickering candles, wavering shadows and pianos playing in empty rooms still yield a tiny frisson. The director has gone all out to make ''Taste of Fear'' work on its own level – and the result is no less silly than usual, but a good deal more watchable"

Legacy

stated that the film "was the best film that I was in that Hammer ever made... ..It had the best director, the best cast and the best story." Ann Todd contradicted him, saying that she thought "it was a terrible film. I didn't like my part, and I found

impossible to work with – all that 'Method' stuff."

References

Sources

* *

External links

* *
''Taste of Fear''
locations at ReelStreets * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taste Of Fear 1961 films 1960s thriller films British black-and-white films British thriller films Films about people with paraplegia or tetraplegia Films directed by Seth Holt Films scored by Clifton Parker Films set in France Films set on the French Riviera Films shot at Associated British Studios Films shot at Bray Studios Hammer Film Productions films Films with screenplays by Jimmy Sangster Films produced by Jimmy Sangster 1960s English-language films 1960s British films Psycho-biddy films English-language thriller films