User Reviews

THE DEVIL'S JEST is a really cheap British B-movie war drama about a remote clifftop castle and the sinister Nazi official lurking around inside. He's holding a family hostage and they have various tortuous links to him, links which are explained in scene after scene of boring dialogue and stilted, grimacing performances. The heroes in the film are so stupid that they repeatedly allow the main character to win the upper hand simply by doing nothing, and the ending is rushed. The only good thing about this is that it's merely an hour long.

I have just sat through this b-picture. The plot, dialogue, sound, picture, sets, even those in Syon House, are earth-shattering terrible, even at a time when quota quickies were all the rage.

Avoid if you can and preserve Valentine Dyall's memory in something more memorable.

Mara Russell-Tavernan starred in Castle Sinister 6 years earlier, which had virtually the same plot! The only difference really was the Devil's Jest had an actor I had heard of, namely, Valentine Dyall, who had 3rd billing, but only appeared in 2 scenes! The storyline is laughable: a German spy is suspected of operating from the Enderby estate after 2 army officers die soon after dining there. A policeman also is killed after supposedly seeing the face of the "phantom" (although we can only assume this is done off camera as the phantom is only seen to grab the policeman from behind). Lady Enderby is threatened by Seton with torture by the Gestapo and a cigarette burn and in the next scene she is expressing her love for him! I don't know if it was the poor quality of the film or make up errors, but it seemed that the duelling scar on Seton's face became more prominent in some scenes than others. The acting is stilted, a laughable fight between Seton and Victor, scenes poorly edited, especially the last scene, where, Lady Enderby having being shot in the back, managed to crawl hundreds of yards to die next to Seton, before anybody else has arrived. Give it a miss.

Poorly concocted tale of Hun spy masquerading as British officer in castle on cliff. Castle owned by his former lover. Hun kills a few people including British officers billeted close by. Hun and lover die shoot out on beach but lover gets full marks for running on sand in heels and long dress! British army shooting accuracy shows why Britain lost the Second World War.