Two young school teachers (Joyce Howard and Tucker McGuire) venture out to the Yorkshire moors to find out what happened to one of their colleagues who went out there and never came back. The joke is that she met someone and fell in love. Arriving in a convincing looking torrential rainstorm, they slog through the mud, lucky to avoid the deadly bogs, and encounter a brooding James Mason, who plays a shell-shocked veteran of the Spanish Civil War, and who reluctantly lets them spend the night in his country house on the conditions that they lock the bedroom door, and leave the following morning. McGuire is the party girl while Howard plays the sincere and serious part, a nice match for the troubled Mason. Forced to stay more time because of the impassable conditions, Howard and Mason begin to fall in love. Mason's caretakers are two ruthless opportunists played by Mary Clare and Wilfrid Lawson, both of whom are outstanding in their evil roles. The idea that they have convinced Mason that he's a dangerous mental case seems a bit flimsy, but their sinister portrayals are anything but, aided by the shadowy lighting that illuminates their facial closeups. When we find out what really happened to the missing teacher, that she met up with these two, and that the lovely Joyce Howard is next, it creates a tenable level of menace. The final scene on the darkened moors with the treacherous bogs is right out of the textbook.
Review of Terror House
