Opening title:- “1792 – The Romney Marshes – flat and desolate – was the land of a proud and independent people. Their shores faced the shores of France – and many was the shipload of wine and brandy smuggled across the sea in defiance of the king’s revenue men. Many legends have come from this corner of England – but none so widely believed or widely feared – as the legend of the Marsh Phantoms – who rode the land on dark misty nights – and struck fear into the hearts of all who crossed their paths…..”
Captain Collier and his men arrive in the village of Dymchurch following a tip-off that the place is a hive of smuggling activity, but the villagers have been forewarned of their approach and they find nothing. The village has all the outward appearance of rural respectability and at its heart is the affable, ever-gracious figure of the local rector, Dr. Blyss.
In the tiny churchyard is the grave of Captain Clegg, a notorious pirate hanged for his crimes. But Collier’s suspicions are aroused further when a mulatto, whose tongue was cut out by Clegg, reacts violently on seeing the familiar features of the rector….
Production Details
A Hammer-Major production released by Universal Pictures
Copyright MCMLXII by Universal Pictures Company Inc. – All rights reserved
MPAA Approved Certificate No. 20200
Based on the novel by Russell Thorndike
The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious and any similarity to the names, character, or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional
RCA Sound Recording
Made at Bray Studios, England
Processed by Humphries Laboratories
Print by Technicolor 82 mins
Filming Began: 21st November 1961
UK Release: 25th June 1962
Studio:
Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire
Locations:
St Mary the Virgin, Denham, Buckinghamshire – Scenes in churchyard
Denham, Buckinghamshire
Ibstone windmill, Turville, Buckinghamshire – Village windmill
All Saints Church, Oakley Green Road, Bray, Berkshire – Long shots of church; scenes on top of church tower
Stills from film
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Original Poster
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Footnotes
Curiously, this was one of two films of the same story which both appeared in 1962, the other being Walt Disney’s Dr Syn, alias the Scarecrow, starring Patrick McGoohan and directed by James Neilson. Peter Cushing wrote an alternative script for the film, based on the first two Thorndyke books, Dr Syn on the High Seas and Dr Syn Returns. Producer John Temple-Smith said “… there was never any question of Hammer using this script or any part of it: using anything from Dr Syn on the High Seas would have dropped us straight into Disney’s net.
Yvonne Romain also appeared in Hammer’s The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) and The Brigand of Kandahar (1965).
John Temple-Smith worked for Hammer again as producer of The Viking Queen (1966).
Uncredited Kate O’Mara went on to appear in Hammer’s The Horror of Frankenstein and The Vampire Lovers.