Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

gridoon2018 Two of the most essential features of a good thriller are suspense and mystery: "The Snorkel" does well in the former department (there are some very suspenseful sequences, like when Peter van Eyck tries to drown Mandy Miller in the sea), but doesn't even make an effort in the latter (the killer, and his modus operandi, are shown in the opening sequence, before even the titles). Every time there is a chance for a little twist (like, for example, Betta St. John believing Miller all along but only pretending not to), the film ignores it. The leading trio (plus the dog!) give effective performances (and might I add that Betta St. John has a great body?), and the film does have a memorable just-desserts ending, though the very last scene softens the blow somewhat. On the whole, it's a more than adequate little thriller, but it's no "Shadow Of A Doubt". **1/2 out of 4.

ferbs54 A little-known picture sporting an amusing title, "The Snorkel" yet reveals itself to be an excellent suspenser; a genuine sleeper that may be finding some latter-day acclaim thanks to this great-looking print in the Hammer "Icons of Suspense" DVD box set. Released in 1958 by Hammer Studios, shortly after the famed British filmmaking independent began its reign of the Gothic horror niche with that year's "The Curse of Frankenstein," the picture is a tale of murder and suspense without being an actual mystery. In the film's very first scene, we are privy to the central murder and made aware of how the killer contrives to make his victim look like a suicide. Using the titular gizmo, Paul Decker (played with icy Germanic menace by Peter van Eyck) manages to stay alive in a sealed room while he asphyxiates his wife with gas. He then hides beneath a covered trapdoor in the floor, leading the local authorities in the French/Italian border region (the locale in the film IS vitally important to its plot) to automatically render that verdict of suicide. But Decker's stepdaughter, Candy (14-year-old former child actress Mandy Miller, here in her final film), knows better, already suspecting him of having drowned her dad several years before. Too bad, though, that no one will believe her, including her beautiful nanny, Jean (Betta St. John, who many viewers will recall from the 1960 fright classic "Horror Hotel"), resulting in quite a nail-biting game of cat and mouse between Candy and the increasingly dangerous Decker. And this desperate standoff between the two turns more and more suspenseful as the viewer wonders just how--or if--Candy will ever prove her claim to the authorities before the killer manages to finish her off!van Eyck, it must be said, is truly excellent as the cold-blooded Decker, while Mandy, appealing as can be, proves herself a fine little actress as well; likable, cute and effective. The film's direction by Guy Green is gripping and often imaginative, and co-writer Jimmy Sangster (who seems to have been responsible for so many of these Brit thrillers) here provides quite the ingenious and clever story line. The film has been beautifully shot in B&W--the nighttime photography is especially gorgeous--and features any number of impressive sequences. My favorite: Paul tries to "save" (i.e., drown) Candy in the ocean. The film builds to an extremely tense windup, capped off by not one but TWO highly satisfying resolutions. Those viewers who had hoped for some kind of comeuppance as regards Decker will NOT be disappointed! In all, "The Snorkel" is surprisingly likable; indeed, I found myself enjoying it even more than the overly plotted 1963 Hammer film "Maniac" (also written by Sangster), which is to be found on the same disc. And oh...despite the "Maltin Classic Movie Guide"'s assertion that the running time for "The Snorkel" is a brief 74 minutes, the version that I just watched was more like 90. And that's a good thing. With a film like this one--a real treat for young and old alike, and one that you'll likely recommend to your friends--the more, the better!

Woodyanders Sweet teenage girl Candy Brown (a fine and sympathetic performance by the cute Mandy Miller) suspects that her smooth, yet slimy stepfather Paul Decker (splendidly played to the hateful sleazy hilt by Peter van Eyck) murdered her mother and made it look like a suicide. Of course, Candy can't get anyone to believe her. Director Guy Green, working from a rather blah script by Jimmy Sangster and Peter Myers, unfortunately allows the story to unfold at a too leisurely pace and thus fails to build much in the way of suspense. Moreover, the film punks out with a disappointingly limp coda at the very end that feels tacked on. Luckily, the able cast make the most out of the so-so material: Miller makes for an attractive and appealing protagonist, van Eyck positively oozes as one extremely vile and no-count bastard, Betta St. John does well as warm and supportive nanny Jean Edwards, and Gregoire Aslan is excellent as a pragmatic French inspector. Jack Asher's crisp black and white cinematography boasts a few artful fades and dissolves. Francis Chagrin's shivery score does the spine-tingling trick. The key problem with this picture is that it's just too slow and talky for the first hour; nothing much happens until the last third when Candy and Paul engage in a deadly battle of wits that culminates in a pleasingly tense and ironic conclusion. Decent, but nothing special.

lazarillo This is an early British Hammer film, but it was filmed in Italy and co-scripted by future Italian director Antonio Marghareti, so it also in some ways anticipates the later Italian giallo thrillers, mostly in its enjoyably absurd plot. In the creepy opening scene a man (Peter Van Eck) puts on a scuba mask (it's technically not a "snorkel") and hides under the floor boards in order to gas his sleeping wife from inside her locked room. The police naturally think its suicide, but the murdered woman's teen daughter (Mandy Miller) comes home from school and immediately suspects the truth--naturally since she earlier witnessed her step-father drowning her father. Everyone thinks she's crazy, of course, (even after he bumps off her little dog, "Toto", too). Her governess (Betta St. John )meanwhile is torn between her loyalty her apparently delusional charge and her attraction to the suave, seemingly distraught widower.Now if this were a giallo there would be many more, no doubt very bloody, murders, the couple would graphically consummate their relationship, and even little Mandy would probably get in on the erotic and/or violent action somehow (i.e. check out the later giallo "Smile Before Death" which has a very similar plot, but with all these elements added in). But don't expect anything like that here. Still, this is very entertaining and has some ironic and effective twists at the end (the very last scene, however, is a terrible cop-out, no doubt tacked on to ameliorate the douchebags, I mean censors). The acting is indeed very good, especially that of Van Eyck and Miller (I hope this isn't the same Mandy Miller who later appeared in David Sullivan's horrible "Emmanuelle in Soho", but that seems pretty unlikely). You definitely want to check this one out.