The Snorkel (1958)

Very well executed

A Disappointing Continuation

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Although the police have termed her mother's death by gas a suicide, a teenage girl (Mandy Miller) believes her step-father (Peter VanEyck) murdered her.Hammer may be best known for their horror films, but they made some pretty fine thrillers and murder mysteries, too, as this film attests. Helmed by Guy Green (who made his name under David Lean) and written by Hammer's Jimmy Sangster, this is just pure genius beginning to end.From the opening scene, we know how the killer does his work... but then we watch and see if his teenage stepdaughter can find out. Blaming someone for murder is one thing, but finding solid proof is something else entirely.

The Snorkel (what a terrible title!) starts out in a very Columbo- ish way. We SEE the killer committing his murder, and exactly how he does it. The rest of the film follows two threads - one is his young step-daughter, gradually piecing together the puzzle; while the other are all the adult authority figures suppressing and threatening her. So the film is both a murder mystery, plus an "uncaring adults vs. poor child" story. It's well-done, well-acted, and has some tense moments. It is emphatically NOT a horror story, but it is interesting enough for what it is. One reviewer opined that the snorkel system used by the killer would not work, because no one could breath through a hose 10 feet long (which is about what he has in the film). However the film specifically shows that he has TWO hoses - presumably one for intake, and one for outgo, which would, indeed work effectively. Though the film doesn't harp on it. It is just shown without comment. Peter van Eyck does a good job as the villain, and Mandy Miller as the daughter is a surprisingly good actress for a 13 year old kid.

Sensitive Mandy Miller was Britain's top child star of the 1950s (until Hayley Mills came along) and really dazzled critics in her (almost) first film "Mandy". While she never again gave such an outstanding performance and left films while still a teenager, "The Snorkel" (suprisingly her last feature film) will always be remembered as a career highlight if only for it's gimmicky slant on the old "locked door" murder mystery. Anthony Dawson, well known for his villainous roles (especially as Ray Milland's former school fellow in "Dial M For Murder") provided the story and some really nice locations were used at the Villa della Pergola and Savona and Liguria, along the Italian Riviera.Candy is convinced her step father Paul (Van Eyck) has killed her mother, just as she believes he killed her father but no one believes her. She is right though, as viewers see in a gripping start to the movie - he does it by making it look like suicide by being able to stay in the room via a trap door under the rug and by being able to breath through a snorkel. And that is what the police can't get past - if he did somehow manage to kill Candy's mother, how did he breathe? Smart Candy starts to figure it out immediately, especially when she sees a poster advertising the joys of snorkeling.This is an excellent "why won't anyone believe me?" story really helped by the main character's (Candy) resourcefulness and determination. Candy realises she will have to dig up proof on her own - starting with Paul's passport, if, as he claims, he was in France at the time, his passport would be stamped right??? Actually Toto, Candy's little cocker spaniel is right on to things - finding the trap door and back at the hotel ferreting out Paul's snorkel. It seems wherever Paul hides it playful Toto fetches - by the look on Paul's face things are not looking too good for Toto. Jean (Betta St. John), Candy's governess, is around but she is no use as she has come under Paul's spell and is viewing Candy more and more as a troubled young girl.The last ten minutes are nail bitingly suspenseful. Paul decides to go to France, to get away from Candy's relentless accusations but his hotel is only just over the border, giving him all the time in the world to return at night to murder whoever he likes and he does slip back via ----!!! He has lured Candy to the villa by impersonating a policeman over the phone and she almost becomes victim no. 4 but Jean, in an unusual case of the smarts, has alerted people that Candy may have gone to the villa to take her own life!!No one could play the cold as ice killer better than Peter Van Eyck, with his startling blonde crew cut and menacing manner. He is not particularly cool, calm and collected when he realises he may be trapped under the floor boards and only Candy is there to hear his muffled cries. But she then does a "Gaslight" with her "it's just my imagination, it must be!!" Will she alert authorities or keep that detached look on her face all the way to the airport???

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!