''Fragment of Fear'' is a 1970 British
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
directed by
Richard C. Sarafian and starring
David Hemmings,
Gayle Hunnicutt,
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Wilfrid Hyde-White (12 May 1903 – 6 May 1991) was a British character actor of stage, film and television. He achieved international recognition for his role as Colonel Pickering in the film version of the musical ''My Fair Lady'' (1964).
Ear ...
,
Roland Culver
Roland Joseph Culver, (31 August 1900 – 1 March 1984) was an English stage, film, and television actor.
Life and career
After Highgate School, he joined the Royal Air Force and served as a pilot from 1918 to 1919. After considering other c ...
,
Flora Robson
Dame Flora McKenzie Robson (28 March 19027 July 1984) was an English actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her range extended from q ...
and
Arthur Lowe.
It was adapted from the 1965 novel ''
A Fragment of Fear'' by
John Bingham
John Armor Bingham (January 21, 1815 – March 19, 1900) was an American politician who served as a Republican Party (United States), Republican representative from Ohio and as the United States ambassador to Japan. In his time as a congress ...
.
Plot
Tim Brett (Hemmings) is visiting his rich but estranged aunt (
Flora Robson
Dame Flora McKenzie Robson (28 March 19027 July 1984) was an English actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her range extended from q ...
) in an Italian coastal hotel catering mainly for old ladies.
On a tour of
Pompeii visitors find the body of his aunt - who has been strangled. An elaborate funeral follows. At the funeral Tim has a conversation with Signor Bardoni, the hotel owner, who organised the funeral. He says it is ironic that his aunt has been killed by a criminal when she had spent her life "helping criminals". A card on a wreath at the funeral says it is from "The Stepping Stones".
He is a former drug addict who has written a book about his experience and has been published. He has been clean for about a year. He had recently become acquainted with his aunt (Robson), a philanthropist who expresses interest in helping some of Tim's former acquaintances. She is found murdered soon after. Tim starts a relationship with Juliet (Hunnicutt), the woman who found his aunt's body, and they are soon engaged.
Dissatisfied with the progress that the police are making in his aunt's murder case, he begins to ask questions of some of his aunt's acquaintances. He then begins to receive warnings from unknown persons to stop his inquiries. On the train he meets an elderly woman (Wimbush). She hands him a note of supposed comfort, asking him to read it at home. The note turns out to be a warning about leaving matters to the police, apparently typed on his own typewriter. There's also an ominous laugh recorded on Tim's own tape recorder, indicating that someone had been in his apartment.
Tim is then visited by a police sergeant, Sgt. Matthews (Newark), who informs him that the woman on the train had lodged a complaint against Tim. Sgt. Matthews takes Tim's information but after the woman is also killed, Tim finds out that there is no sergeant by that name working at the police station. Tim is later assaulted on the streets at night by two men who leave him lying on the ground with a hypodermic needle. Tim throws the needle away down a gutter. He makes contact with a secret government agency which tells him that they are after the people who are threatening him, but all is - again - not what it seems to be. As the situation continues, Tim and Juliet's wedding fast approaches.
Cast
*
David Hemmings as Tim Brett
*
Gayle Hunnicutt as Juliet Bristow
*
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Wilfrid Hyde-White (12 May 1903 – 6 May 1991) was a British character actor of stage, film and television. He achieved international recognition for his role as Colonel Pickering in the film version of the musical ''My Fair Lady'' (1964).
Ear ...
as Mr. Copsey
*
Flora Robson
Dame Flora McKenzie Robson (28 March 19027 July 1984) was an English actress and star of the theatrical stage and cinema, particularly renowned for her performances in plays demanding dramatic and emotional intensity. Her range extended from q ...
as Lucy Dawson
*
Adolfo Celi
Adolfo Celi (; 27 July 1922 – 19 February 1986) was an Italian film actor and director. Born in Curcuraci, Messina, Sicily, Celi appeared in nearly 100 films, specialising in international villains. Although a prominent actor in Italian ...
as Signor Bardoni
*
Roland Culver
Roland Joseph Culver, (31 August 1900 – 1 March 1984) was an English stage, film, and television actor.
Life and career
After Highgate School, he joined the Royal Air Force and served as a pilot from 1918 to 1919. After considering other c ...
as Mr. Vellacot
*
Daniel Massey as Major Ricketts
*
Mona Washbourne
Mona Lee Washbourne (27 November 1903 – 15 November 1988) was an English actress of stage, film, and television. Her most critically acclaimed role was in the film '' Stevie'' (1978), late in her career, for which she was nominated for a Gold ...
as Mrs. Gray
*
Arthur Lowe as Mr. Nugent
*
Yootha Joyce
Yootha Joyce Needham (20 August 1927 – 24 August 1980), known as Yootha Joyce, was an English actress best known for playing Mildred Roper opposite Brian Murphy in the sitcom ''Man About the House'' (1973–1976) and its spin-off ''George and ...
as Miss Ward-Cadbury
*
Derek Newark
Derek John Newark (8 June 1933 – 11 August 1998) was an English actor in television, film and theatre.
Career
Newark began his working life as a soldier in the Coldstream Guards before joining the Royal Artillery. However, he wanted to beco ...
as Sergeant Matthews
*
Patricia Hayes
Patricia Lawlor Hayes (22 December 1909 – 19 September 1998) was an English character actress.
Early life
Patricia Hayes OBE was born in Streatham,Dennis Barker, "Hayes, Patricia Lawlor (1909–1998)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biogra ...
as Mrs. Baird
*
Mary Wimbush
Mary Wimbush (19 March 1924 – 31 October 2005) was an English actress whose career spanned 60 years. Active across film, television, theatre and radio, she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1969 film ''Oh! ...
as "Bunface"
*
Glynn Edwards
John Glynn Edwards (2 February 1931 – 23 May 2018) was a British television and cinema character actor, who came to national prominence for his portrayal of the barman Dave Harris in the 1970s–1990s British television comedy-drama ''Minder' ...
as CID Superintendent
*
Philip Stone
Philip Stone (14 April 1924 – 15 June 2003) was an English actor, well known for portraying film characters such as "Pa", the father of Alex DeLarge, in ''A Clockwork Orange''; General Alfred Jodl in '' Hitler: The Last Ten Days''; Delbert ...
as CID Sergeant
*
Bernard Archard as Priest
*
Kenneth Cranham
Kenneth Cranham (born 12 December 1944) is a Scottish film, television, radio and stage actor.
Early life
Cranham was born in Dunfermline, Fife, the son of Lochgelly-born Margaret McKay Cranham (née Ferguson) and Ronald Cranham, a London-bor ...
as Joe
*
Angelo Infanti
Angelo Infanti (; 16 February 1939 – 12 October 2010) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 90 films between 1961 and 2010. He was born on 16 February 1939 in Zagarolo, Italy. He died on 12 October 2010 in Tivoli, Italy due ...
as Bruno
* Massimo Sarchielli as Mario
*
Michael Rothwell as Rocky
*
Petra Markham
Petra Mavis Markham (born 17 March 1944 in Prestbury, Cheshire) is a British theatre, television and film actress. She is a daughter of actor David Markham and writer Olive Dehn (1914–2007). She has three sisters: actress Kika Markham, Sonia ...
as Schoolgirl
*
Georgina Moon as Schoolgirl
* Lois Hyett as Schoolgirl
*
John Rae as Uncle Stanley
* Edward Kemp as Kenny
* Hilda Barry as Miss Daley
* Kurt Christian as Nino
*
Jessica Dublin
Jessica Dublin (July 9, 1918 – July 21, 2012) was an American actress
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern medi ...
as American Matron
* Louise Lambert as American Matron
* Richard Kerr as Pop Singer
* A London Pigeon as Columbus
Production
Filming
It was made at
Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused ...
.
Location shooting
Location shooting is the shooting of a film or television production in a real-world setting rather than a sound stage or backlot. The location may be interior or exterior.
The filming location may be the same in which the story is set (for ex ...
took place around
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
Seaford in
Sussex and around
Pompeii and
Sorrento
Sorrento (, ; nap, Surriento ; la, Surrentum) is a town overlooking the Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the south-eastern terminus of the Circumvesuviana ra ...
in Italy. The film's sets were designed by the
art director Ray Simm
Ray Simm was a British art director. He was nominated three times for the BAFTA Award for Best Production Design for '' The Slipper and the Rose'', '' The Wrong Box'' and '' Darling'', for which he won.
Selected filmography
* '' The Faithful Ci ...
. Costumes were by
Phyllis Dalton.
Music
The wild British jazz score composed by
Johnny Harris was later used by
Levi's to soundtrack their European Kung Fu TV advertising campaign in the late 1990s. The original soundtrack notably features
Harold McNair
Harold McNair (5 November 1931 – 7 March 1971) was a Jamaican-born saxophonist and flautist.
Early life
McNair was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He attended the Alpha Boys School under the tutelage of Vincent Tulloch, while playing with Jo ...
on solo flute.
References
External links
*
{{Richard C. Sarafian
1970 films
1970s mystery thriller films
1970s psychological thriller films
British mystery thriller films
British psychological thriller films
Films with screenplays by Paul Dehn
Films about writers
Films based on British novels
Columbia Pictures films
Films shot at Shepperton Studios
Films shot in London
Films set in London
Films set in Italy
Films directed by Richard C. Sarafian
1970s English-language films
1970s British films