Man in the Attic

1953

1h 22m

IMDb RATING

5.4/10

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10 Images

Thriller

Crime

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London, 1888: on the night of the third Jack the Ripper killing, soft-spoken Mr. Slade, a research pathologist, takes lodgings with the Harleys, including a gloomy attic room for "experiments." Mrs. Harley finds Slade odd and increasingly suspects the worst; her niece Lily (star of a decidedly Parisian stage revue) finds him interesting and increasingly attractive. Is Lily in danger, or are her mother's suspicions merely a red herring?

Directors

Hugo Fregonese

Writers

Marie Belloc Lowndes(novel by)

Barré Lyndon(screenplay by)

Robert Presnell Jr.(screenplay by)

Stars

Jack Palance

Constance Smith

Byron Palmer

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Videos1

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Watch Man in the Attic (1953) - Trailer

Photos10

Top cast

Slade

Lily Bonner

Insp. Paul Warwick

Helen Harley

William Harley

Constable #1

Constable #2

Daisy (the maid)

Chief Insp. Melville

Detective Sgt. Bates

Annie Rowley

Katy

Mary Lenihan

Lelah

Directors

Hugo Fregonese

Writers

Marie Belloc Lowndes(novel by)

Barré Lyndon(screenplay by)

Robert Presnell Jr.(screenplay by)

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User reviews1

Review

Featured review

6/10

Jack Palance is "Slade", a curiously enigmatic stranger who takes rooms in the home of the "Harley" family. It's at the height of the paranoia in Victorian London surrounding the "Jack the Ripper" killings and as our story develops, both "Mrs. Harley" (Frances Bavier) and the audience begin to suspect that our reclusive visitor may well have a secret to keep. Those suspicions only intensify when he takes a shine to her actress niece "Lily" (Constance Smith) and we really do wonder if she is soon to be toast, too! Hugo Fregonese does manage to build a little menace into this: the dark eerie settings, the foggy London scenes all add a richness to the drama. Palance, however, is as wooden as a picket fence; he brings very little to his part. Indeed, aside from an amiable few scenes from Rhys Williams as "Harley", the acting is all a bit dry and stagey and that drags the whole thing down rather. It is still quite watchable, though, but with a better actor in the lead it could have been much more intriguing and I think I preferred "The Lodger" (1944).

Geronimo196722 Jun, 2022