Jump to content

The Curse of the Wraydons

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Curse of the Wraydons
Directed byVictor M. Gover
Written by
  • Owen George
  • Maurice Sandoz (play)
  • W. G. Willis (play)
Produced by
  • Gilbert Church
  • J. C. Jones
Starring
CinematographyS.D. Onions
Edited byVictor M. Gover
Music byDe Wolfe Music
Production
company
Distributed byAmbassador Film Productions
Release date
  • 19 December 1946 (1946-12-19)
Running time
94 mins
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Curse of the Wraydons (U.S. title: Strangler's Morgue) is a 1946 British thriller film directed by Victor M. Gover and starring Tod Slaughter, Bruce Seton and Henry Caine.[1][2] It was written by Owen George based on the 1928 play Spring-Heeled Jack by Maurice Sandoz, which was in turn based upon the 1849 play by W. G. Willis. It was made at Bushey Studios.

Plot

[edit]

During the Napoleonic Wars an Englishman, Philip Wraydon, is sent into exile and agrees to become a spy for France. It features legendary Victorian character Spring-heeled Jack.

Cast

[edit]
  • Tod Slaughter as Philip Wraydon
  • Bruce Seton as Jack Wraydon, Spring Heeled Jack
  • Henry Caine as George Wraydon
  • Pearl Cameron as Rose Wraydon
  • Andrew Laurence as George Heeningham
  • Alan Lawrance as Squire Sedgefield
  • Lorraine Clewes as Helen Sedgefield
  • Gabriel Toyne as Payne
  • Ben Williams as John Rickers
  • John Coyle as Dennis
  • Daphne Arthur as Alice Maitland
  • Barry O'Neill as George Wraydon

Release

[edit]

The film was released in the USA by Hoffberg Productions Inc. in 1953, edited to 75 minutes and retitled Strangler's Morgue, on a double bill with The Greed of William Hart (1948), retitled as Horror Maniacs.

In 1950 the BBC produced a TV version starring and produced by Slaughter, titled Spring-Heeled Jack.[3]

Reception

[edit]

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Slow, to the extent of being irritating, the film fails miserably as a melodrama except in the traditional over-acting. There are moments, however, especially in the closing sequences, which make laughter irrepressible."[4]

Kine Weekly wrote: "It is treated with apparent seriousness, but fails through its inability fully to exploit Tod Slaughter's exuberant histrionics. It needs drastic sharpening up. Stunt offering mainly for the sticks."[5]

Picturegoer wrote: "Tod Slaughter has not managed to breathe much life into the old bones of the Lyceum melodrama "SpringHeeled Jack – Terror of London.'" ... The picture is played straight and opens too slowly. The latter half is in better Tod Slaughter tradition."[6]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "poor", writing: "Lurid horror-thriller is much too long and slow."[7]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "The Curse of the Wraydons". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
  2. ^ "The Curse of the Wraydons (1946)". bfi.org.uk. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 18 January 2009. Retrieved 28 September 2012.
  3. ^ "Spring-Heeled Jack (The Terror of Epping Forest)". BBC Programme Index. Retrieved 25 May 2025.
  4. ^ "The Curse of the Wraydons". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 13 (145): 122. 1 January 1946. ProQuest 1305811752.
  5. ^ "The Curse of the Wraydons". Kine Weekly. 355 (2057): 28. 19 September 1946. ProQuest 2687788965.
  6. ^ "The Curse of the Wraydons". Picturegoer. 15: 14. 3 December 1946. ProQuest 1771200452.
  7. ^ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 201. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Curse_of_the_Wraydons&oldid=1297869801"