Directed by:
John MillsScreenplay:
Mary Hayley BellCinematography:
Arthur IbbetsonComposer:
Malcolm ArnoldCast:
Hayley Mills, Ian McShane, Geoffrey Bayldon, Alan Lake, Annette Crosbie, Laurence Naismith, Pauline Jameson, Jacqueline Pearce, Judith Furse, Len Jones (more)Plots(1)
Mills is a young girl severely traumatized after seeing a playmate killed by the shotgun left lying around by Naismith, the dead boys father. It is now seven years later and 17-year-old Mills is an outcast. Her mother is an alcoholic and ignores her, while Naismith blames her for his sons death. Nearly everyone in the village ignores her, and she finds comfort and happiness only beside her friends grave. One day she sees a youngster burying a dead mole and decides to do likewise with two of her recently deceased pets. The local children see her and follow suit. Later she meets McShane, a boy traveling through town in a gypsy caravan. Her mother disapproves of the boy, and on a drunken binge she strikes her daughter. Mills runs to the graveyard where she encounters Naismith, who is drunk and threatens her with his gun. She runs once more, falls into a river, and is saved by McShane. He takes her to the gypsy camp for safety. However, her disappearance prompts her mother to have a stroke, which kills her. Soon Mills is found by some villagers, who want her put into an orphanage. But the local vicar defies the villagers by letting Mills ride off with the caravan. Interesting in many ways, with an ominous feel to it. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Hayley Mills
UK
Best movies:
Tiger Bay (1959)
The Parent Trap (1961)
Twisted Nerve (1968)
Ian McShane
UK
Best movies:
Roots (1977) (series)
Jesus of Nazareth (1977) (TV movie)
Marco Polo (1982) (series)
Geoffrey Bayldon
UK
Best movies:
To Sir, with Love (1967)
The Longest Day (1962)
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Alan Lake
UK
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Flame (1975)
It's Not the Size That Counts (1974)
Don't Open Till Christmas (1984)
Annette Crosbie
UK
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Jonathan Creek (1997) (series)
Murder Rooms: The White Knight Stratagem (2001) (TV movie)
The Slipper and the Rose: The Story of Cinderella (1976)
Laurence Naismith
UK
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Lust for Life (1956)
Cleopatra (1963)
The Million Pound Note (1954)
Pauline Jameson
UK
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Agatha Christie: Poirot (1989) (series)
Night Watch (1973)
Murder Most Foul (1964)
Jacqueline Pearce
UK
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Judith Furse
UK
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Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
Black Narcissus (1947)
Len Jones
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Straw Dogs (1971)
Spring and Port Wine (1970)
Grace Arnold
UK
Best movies:
Passport to Pimlico (1949)
The Heroes of Telemark (1965)
Went the Day Well? (1942)
Hira Talfrey
New Zealand
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The Curse of the Werewolf (1961)
Witchfinder General (1968)
The Oblong Box (1969)
Rachel Thomas
UK
Best movies:
Tiger Bay (1959)
The Captive Heart (1946)
Under Milk Wood (1971)
Hamilton Dyce
UK
Best movies:
King Rat (1965)
Becket (1964)
Whistle Down the Wind (1961)
Cyril Chamberlain
UK
Best movies:
Trouble in Store (1953)
The One That Got Away (1957)
A Stitch in Time (1963)
Michael Nightingale
UK
Best movies:
The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
Cadfael (1994) (series)
Ice-Cold in Alex (1958)
Anne Blake
UK
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Taste of Fear (1961)
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
L'Espion qui venait du froid (1965)
Richard Davies
UK
Best movies:
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
Twisted Nerve (1968)
Zulu (1964)
June Ellis
UK
Best movies:
Anne of the Thousand Days (1969)
Florence Nightingale (1985) (TV movie)
Ring of Bright Water (1969)
Fred Ferris
UK
Best movies:
A Kind of Loving (1962)