It’s been said many times but Hammer films were made on
the tightest of budgets and in the shortest time possible with many having no
more than a six week shoot which was strictly 9 to 5.30 and with no time spent
working at weekends. The cast and crew were all highly professional and could
work with minimal retakes, having to nail these scenes as quickly as they
could.
The stories were often pulp fiction but the film-making
skills involved in their making is often admirable. So it is with The
Reptile which despite a plot located firmly in the depths of the region of
daft, manages to be both atmospheric and interestingly human with characters
you care about.
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| The tightly-arranged location; pub, church and graveyard all in one place |
Part of this is down to director John Gilling making a
positive virtue out of his restricted budgets and the inventiveness of his production
designer Bernard Robinson aided by Don
Mingaye’s art direction. Together they create a intimate world that you soon
work your way around; they seem to have taken the corner of an old house and
used it to create a corner of a village with a pub and nearby a Church and graveyard
with which we become very familiar. It’s quite a feat but most of the action
takes place in this set with the exception of the moors that separate the
mysterious mansion from the cottage in which our main protagonists try to work
out the mystery and survive.
Few films have The Reptile’s sense of place, you know
exactly which direction the danger is at any time and Gilling must either have
had an unerring sense of direction or a compass. Into all this are placed his
players and, as with a theatre production, he moves them around with such skill
as well as getting the upmost from their reactions and anticipations. This is
not a gory film but it is decisive and quick with moments of death, just like
the viper in question and with those characters constructed as carefully as the
narrative, sets and movements the whole thing is an enjoyably unsettling
journey into nostalgic unease.
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| Jennifer Daniel and Ray Barrett |
The film was actually shot directly after The Plague
of the Zombies, also directed by Gilling who using many of the same sets,
including exterior shots in the grounds of Oakley Court near Bray, Berkshire… The only two actors in both were established
character actor Michael Ripper – here playing local publican, Tom Bailey – and a
relative newcomer, Jacqueline Pearce, beloved of many as Blake’s Seven’s
Servalan, and an actor of real depth and technical prowess (trained at Lee
Strasberg's Actors Studio in Los Angeles).
The story begins with a young man, Charles Edward
Spalding (David Baron) investigating strange goings on at a mansion owned by a Doctor
Franklyn (Noel Willman), who wears an expression caught somewhere between fear
and arrogance and who, we don’t doubt, has paid the price for meddling in
Eastern practices that cross the line between mysticism and science… He is
unable to prevent Spalding climbing the stairs and confronting a creature that
runs at him faster than the eye can follow leaving him instantly poisoned and
dead within seconds.
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| John Laurie and Michael Ripper two superb character actors |
He is not the first to die under such circumstances in
the village and when his brother, a soldier named Harry George Spalding (Ray
Barrett) arrives with his young wife Valerie (Jennifer Daniel) to make their
home in Charles’ humble cottage, he is soon confronted by a wall of silence, emptying
Tom’s pub as he casts aspersions on the frightened clientele. Tom’s a good lad,
but he’s travelled far and thinks he knows well enough to leave well enough
alone… he advises Harry to forget the mystery of his brother’s death and to
leave.
There are many types of military men and, in this case,
Harry is certainly not one to cut and run and neither is his wife, Valerie
being made of stern stuff – perhaps Hammer wrote some female parts better than
they were ever credited with? There’s certainly a lot of meat for both the
women in this film to get their teeth into.
Talking of chewing, that’s exactly what John Laurie does
to the scenery when he arrives at the Spalding’s cottage as Mad Peter, on the
cadge for some food and full of tales that clearly hint at the truth of what’s
going on. Before he arrives, Valerie is greeted by a beautiful young woman
called Anna (Ms Pearce), the daughter of Dr Franklin and as vivacious and delightful
as he is rude and repulsive. She and Valerie hit it off over flower arranging
before a mysterious oriental figure The Malay (Marne Maitland, playing to type
here… he was born in India and of mixed heritage but he was schooled in the UK, attending Bedales School and Magdalene College, Cambridge).
Anna returns to the big house with his prompting… who is The Malay and what is
his hold over the Franklyns?
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| While her sitar gently weeps... |
Before we find out Mad Peter proves not to be that mad but
certainly 100% dead which inspires Tom to finally offer to help the Spaldings.
Events move at a place especially when the Spaldings are invited over for
dinner with the Franklyns and Anna gets carried away with the sitar… Clearly
something happened in the Orient which has bound The Malay, the Doctor and Anna
together and the reveal is not overplayed as suspense and sympathy is
maintained with admirable restraint.
Dusty Verdict: Well acted and very well directed, The
Reptile is a treat and shows the underlying skills involved in Hammer filming:
disciplined expression and generous, theatre-honed ensemble playing. Enough to make almost any plot believable.
