Hammer Volume Two: Criminal Intent
Details by Film
The Snorkel
Streaming Options
Never Take Candy from a Stranger
Stop Me Before I Kill
The Snorkel
Before becoming synonymous with the horror genre, Hammer Films had in the 1950s produced a number of noir-inspired crime and suspense films. The Snorkel is one of the finest of these.
Penned by Jimmy Sangster (with nods to Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt) and directed by Guy Green (A Patch of Blue), this elaborate and ingenious thriller pits murderous stepfather (Peter van Eyck) against his young stepdaughter (Mandy Miller) who is convinced he killed her parents, and is determined to prove it - before he makes her his next victim…
Never Take Sweets from a Stranger
One of Hammer’s most controversial and genuinely adult thrillers, Never Take Sweets from a Stranger is a serious drama that dealt candidly (for the time) with the issue of child abuse.
Deftly handled, the film is a sincere and unsensational treatment of a taboo subject. Avoiding melodrama it addresses the horrors of the real world but remains a compelling and genuinely unsettling work.
The Full Treatment
A racing driver (Ronald Lewis) is injured in a car accident on his honeymoon which leaves him mentally scarred, and with violent impulses towards his new bride (Diane Cilento).
Directed by Val Guest (The Quatermass Xperiment, The Day The Earth Caught Fire) and photographed by the great Gilbert Taylor (Dr. Strangelove, The Omen, Star Wars), The Full Treatment again draws inspiration from Clouzot’s Les Diaboliques, and is one of Hammer’s most effective and distinctive psychological thrillers of the 1960s.
Cash on Demand
This tense and hugely entertaining heist thriller is a Hammer take on A Christmas Carol, which pits miserly and fastidious bank manager (Peter Cushing in sparkling form) against debonair robber André Morell, as a plot to rob a bank on Christmas Eve unfolds in almost real time.
Reuniting Cushing and Morell, who had just played Holmes and Watson for Hammer in The Hound of the Baskervilles (and co-starred in the BBC's controversial 1954 adaptation of George Orwell's 1984), this ingenious suspenser is now regarded by many as one of Hammer’s best films.
Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Supplements
- Audio commentary with film historian Michael Brooke and author Johnny Mains
- Alternative presentation with US Never Take Candy from a Stranger title sequence
- Two presentations of the film: The Full Treatment (110 mins), the complete and uncut UK version; and Stop Me Before I Kill! (108 mins), the censored US version
- Two presentations of the film: the original UK theatrical cut (67 mins); and the extended US version (81 mins)
- Exclusive booklets for each film, with new essays by Kat Ellinger, Julian Upton and Kim Newman, archival interview materials, contemporary reviews, and full film credits
- Undercover Killer: Inside ‘The Snorkel’ (2018, 21 mins): an analysis of the film and its production by Hammer expert Jonathan Rigby, BFI curator Josephine Botting, and cultural historian John J. Johnston
- Conspiracy Theories: Inside ‘Never Take Sweets from a Stranger’ (2018, 25 mins): an analysis of the film and its production by Hammer expert Jonathan Rigby, BFI curator Josephine Botting and cultural historian John J. Johnston
- Mind Control: Inside ‘The Full Treatment’ (2018, 21 mins): an analysis of the film and its production by Hammer expert Jonathan Rigby, BFI curator Josephine Botting and cultural historian John J. Johnston
- Audio commentary with film historians Jonathan Rigby and David Miller
- Hammer’s Women: Betta St John (2018, 11 mins): film historian Kat Ellinger offers an appreciation of the American actress, singer, and dancer
- Hammer’s Women: Gwen Watford (2018, 8 mins): British cinema expert Dr. Laura Mayne explores the life and career of the prolific English film, stage and television actress
- Hammer’s Women: Diane Cilento (2018, 11 mins): Dr. Melanie Williams, author of Female Stars of British Cinema, explores the life and career of the Australian theatre and film actress and author
- The Perfect Crime: Inside ‘Cash On Demand’ (2018, 19 mins): an analysis of the film and its production by Hammer expert Jonathan Rigby, BFI curator Josephine Botting and cultural historian John J. Johnston
- Original script ending (10 mins): a reconstruction of the final scenes as they appear in Jimmy Sangster's original screenplay
- An Interview with Janina Faye (2018, 15 mins): the British actress recalls her time working with Hammer
- A Subject for Analysis (2018, 15 mins): the BFI’s Vic Pratt explores the work of prolific British filmmaker Val Guest
- Hammer’s Women: Lois Daine (2018, 10 mins): critic and author Becky Booth on the popular English actress
- Peter Allchorne and Hugh Harlow Remember ‘The Snorkel’ (2018, 8 mins): the Hammer production crew regulars recall making the film
- An Appreciation by Matthew Holness (2018, 12 mins): the actor, writer, director and Hammer fan reflects on many aspects of the film
- Censored Scene (4 mins): the bathroom scene that revealed too much for US censors
- Lois Daine on ‘Cash on Demand’ (2018, 8 mins): new and exclusive interview
- US theatrical trailer
- Original theatrical trailer
- Four-Note Fear (2018, 24 mins): an appreciation of composer Francis Chagrin’s score by David Huckvale, author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde
- The Perfect Horror Chord (2018, 44 mins): a new appreciation of composer Elisabeth Lutyens by David Huckvale, author of Hammer Film Scores and the Musical Avant-Garde
- Original theatrical trailer
- US theatrical trailer
- Image galleries: press and promotional material
- Image galleries: press and promotional material
- Image gallery
- Brian Trenchard-Smith trailer commentary (2013, 4 mins): a short critical appreciation
- Image galleries: press and promotional material