Masterful Movie

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Absolutely the worst movie.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Whilst Network obviously tried their hardest on the DVD release,nevertheless the sound is often muffled and indistinct.The plot concerns a couple getting away from everything in a country cottage and getting more than they bargained for.Unfortunately the execution of this film does not live up to the promising premise,despite an experienced cast.

When television caused a chill through film studios during the 1950s a few of the smaller ones (like Walton) felt they had nothing to lose by lowering their standards and giving the public a bit of showmanship. So while Walton's old studios made TV shows like "Robin Hood" and "The Buccaneers", the first film made at their new one was a creepy little thriller, "The House in the Woods".Patricia Roc had been a glamour star of the 1940s British cinema who had been given her big chance in Gainsborough's "When the Bough Breaks" (1947), a searing story about adoption. She popped up in this noirish B as Carol Carter, the social wife of moody author Jeff (Michael Gough) who wants to escape the fly by nights who treat his flat like "Grand Central Station"!! He finds an isolated cottage that the owner is more than happy to rent out to them at two pounds a week. What's more, he hurries them into it by insisting they move in instantly - during which Jeff realises they haven't informed anyone of their departure so it's almost as though they have "disappeared off the face of the earth"!!!!Ronald Howard did start off in A films but by the 1950s his name was synonymus with Bs - he plays the strange artist, Spencer Rowland who stays on with them until the lease agreement comes through and Carol notices similarities between Jeff and Spencer. That's as far as her astuteness goes, she is lulled into calm and is constantly defending him against Jeff's mounting suspicions. His doubts stem from a dedication in a book dated two months before (Rowland claims his wife died two years before!!!), being warned away from the wood when he sees that Spencer is often there and shock when the odd painter destroys his late wife's portrait after it has hung over the fireplace for years.Jeff is also coming up with some lurid ideas for a new book (after critical successes with philosophical works). It is to be a crime thriller about a husband who murders his wife and for a while the viewer wonders if it may come true. The sinister theme music by Larry Adler is the movie's biggest plus, to me it was shaping up as a ghost story - Spencer wanting to keep them house-bound when they arrived, the beautiful Siamese cat always just in view. But by the end, obviously bowing to 1950s complacency, it finished all neat and tidy.

This ludicrous, no-budget thriller is so bad it's laugh-out-loud funny. (That's a genuine line of dialogue quoted in the summary). Highlights include a fight on top of a gramophone and a Siamese cat who miaows right through one scene and then reacts perfectly on cue to a line of Howard's dialogue. (It also miraculously appears and disappears on a shelf during a struggle between Gough and Howard).The plot strains disbelief beyond breaking point, beginning with a ridiculous encounter in the Carter's flat where their comic stereotype neighbours are holding a 'perpetual party' much to the annoyance of novelist Geoffrey Carter (Gough). When a neighbour calls round to borrow the vacuum cleaner, it's the last straw for Carter who looks for a lonely cottage to rent.At the cottage, Carter begins to harbour suspicions concerning his new landlord, tortured artist Spencer Rowland, whose eccentricities extend to wearing a Siamese cat like a scarf and continually playing a Larry Adler record, which finally annoys Carter as much as the audience.Don't be under any illusions about this movie: it is not some lost genre classic, or even a decent period piece. If, however, you appreciate the kind of pastiche movie skits of Harry Enfield or Peter Serafinowicz, there are some priceless, if unintentional comic moments to be found here, and some of the funniest dialogue you'll hear in a long time ("Mushrooms and toadstools should be allowed to live together")

Off-beat, little-known suspense-mystery yarn about a couple, played by British screen veterans Gough and Roc, who go to the boonies to rent a furnished house for solitude and privacy. The landlord is an artist, and he is very strange. Ronald Howard(the son of Leslie Howard) plays the artist who has a mystery hidden through a veil of lies. This is one of those little gems that just amazes you when you see it and think that you never heard of it before. It is not a big budget affair at all, but the acting is top-notch and the script keeps you going till the very end. You know that there is something wrong with Howard from the very start...just not what it is for sure. The direction is tight and keen, working the most out of everything. The haunting mood of the film is greatly added by the melancholic score of "Fantasy of a Lost Love" being repeatedly played over and over again. Gough gives a surprisingly restrained performance, showing he can act with subtlety when needed(although he can be great fun when he hams it up too). Howard is good at his role, and I distinctively disliked his character from the beginning. An appropriate response for a well-played role. Roc is lovely and adequate in her role as well. A nice little surprise film. It's like finding a gold ring in a Cracker Jack box!