Helter Skelter

Helter Skelter - 1949 | 92 mins | Comedy, Romance | B&W

The Production Team

Director: Ralph Thomas.
Producer: Antony Darnborough.
Script: Patrick Campbell. (additional dialogue Gerard Bryant and Patrick Campbell)
Cinematography: Jack Asher.
Film Editing: Bob Wilson.
Production Design: John Elphick and George Provis.
Costume Design: Joan Ellacott.
Makeup Department: W.T. Partleton.
Sound Department: Bill Salter, B.C. Sewell and Sydney Wiles.
Original Music: Francis Chagrin.

The Cast

Carol Marsh - Susan Graham
David Tomlinson - Nick Martin
Mervyn Johns - Ernest Bennett
Peter Hammond - Spencer Stone
Richard Hearne - Professor Pastry
Peter Haddon - Major Basil Beagle
Geoffrey Sumner - Humphrey Beagle
Jon Pertwee - Headwaiter/Charles II
Zena Marshall - Giselle
Terry-Thomas - Himself
Jimmy Edwards - Dr. James Edwards
Colin Gordon - Chadbeater Longwick
Judith Furse - Mrs. Martin
Wilfrid Hyde-White - Dr. B. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde
Bill Fraser - Oliver Cromwell

Plot Synopsis

This early outing by director Ralph Thomas is a dated madcap romantic comedy about a socialite with hiccups, featuring a number of surreal vignettes and cameo appearances. One of the final films produced by Gainsborough Pictures.

Susan Graham (Carol Marsh), a 19-year-old heiress suffers an attack of hiccups while quarrelling with BBC radio star Nick Martin (David Tomlinson) at the Magnolia Club. It’s Susan’s birthday and her two guardians Ernest Bennett (Mervyn Johns) and Major Basil Beagle (Peter Haddon), and two nephews Spencer Stone and Humphrey Beagle, take her for an evening out in London when she is struck down by recurring hiccups. Her guardians consult Dr. Jekyll (Wilfrid Hyde-White) who diagnoses that a severe fright may cure Susan of her affliction, and so Mr Bennett arranges a night in a haunted house possessed by the spirits of Charles II and Cromwell. A subsequent visit to BBC Broadcasting House finally affects a cure.