Love this movie. It was on TCM tonight and I again marveled at how terrific Martin Stephens is in it. Such a short acting career, but an amazing one.
Comparisons of how these Letchmore Heath locations looked in 1960 in the film versus how they look now can be found at a neat site here. The surrounding area was so frequently used for filming locations, especially for the classic TV series “The Avengers,” that the locations in this area became known as “Avengerland.”
Indeed. It was actually my good self who took these photos (but not the one featured in your blog article). The post office had a for sale sign up when i was there but was going for something like £400,000. That would be the ultimate piece of memorabilia. Bit out of my price range though.
Great photos, Igloo Keeper! It’s a beautiful place, if I had £400,000 sitting around I’d have bought it. Maybe we could have all gone in together and made it a co-op? 4000 of us pitching in £100 each?
It is a wonderfully disturbing film, and one of my faves, along with its equally disturbing sibling, “Children of the Damned”, and it’s damned disturbing cousin, “The Damned”, all fine examples of Brit SciFi and creepy children. Yay!
The Damned (Or These Are The Damned as it’s also known) is a great movie, although sadly it’s fairly hard to get hold of. It was shown on Australian TV a few weeks ago. That was the first time I’d seen it.
I haven’t seen “The Damned”, but I did see “Children” a few months ago and it was very good.
These Are the Damned is well worth tracking down. I’d send you a copy, if you can play PAL DVDs?
Ferdy on Film had an interesting write-up on “The Damned” in September – it has spoilers tho. It has an unusual cast, and some amazing visuals. It has a nod to “Zéro de conduite”, the bleakness of the Atomic Age in other Brit scifi like “X the Unknown”, and you can see a little of the future “Girl on a Motorcycle” in it. Disturbing little gem.
I forgot to mention it was directed by Joseph Losey after he was tossed out of H’wood, and there’s another curious link to “X the Unknown” – Losey was set to direct that earlier film, and the odious Dean Jagger, a notorious right-winger, had him removed, because Losey was a “Commie” sympathizer. That film is still interesting in spite of Jagger, and I recommend that one, too.
Is this ‘the damned with Dirk Bogarde and Charlotte Rampling?
M. Walsh – nope, it’s another damned movie.
The Bogarde & Rampling movie is one I HAVE seen! It was pretty good if I recall, but it’s been so long I remember very little of it.
Dfordoom, I keep forgetting to get back to you, I will do that tonight, promise!
Yes, Visconti’s The Damned is pretty good. One of a whole series of decadent Nazi movies made around that time, along with The Night Porter, Salon Kitty, etc. I think The Night Porter is the best of them, but The Damned has great performances from Bogarde (my favourite actor of all time), Rampling and the very underrated Helmut Berger.
ohh i just saw this film the other week for the first time. and it was great, George Sanders really held the whole thing together, along with the lead Blonde boy. much better than that american version.. garbage. lol