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The Orchard End Murder (1981) Online

The Orchard End Murder (1981) Online
Original Title :
The Orchard End Murder
Genre :
Movie / Drama / Thriller
Year :
1981
Directror :
Christian Marnham
Cast :
Bill Wallis,Tracy Hyde,Clive Mantle
Writer :
Christian Marnham
Type :
Movie
Time :
48min
Rating :
6.0/10
The Orchard End Murder (1981) Online

Charthurst Green, Kent, 1966. Pauline Cox accompanies Mike Robins to a village cricket match in which he is playing, but becomes bored and wanders away. She fetches up at the local railway halt, where she is first entertained to tea by the garrulous, hunchbacked station keeper, then upset by the intrusion of the latter's assistant Ewen, who proceeds to kill a rabbit in her presence. Making her way back to the match, Pauline is waylaid by the simple-minded Ewen as she crosses an apple orchard; when his advances become violent, she tries to fight him off and he strangles her. That evening, the hunchback discovers Ewen with Pauline's body in the shack where he lives, and helps him to bury the corpse in the orchard. Later, however, Ewen inadvertently betrays himself: the body is disinterred by the police and Ewen breaks down hysterically. Years later, the hunchback, who has disavowed Ewen, encourages the friendship of another village youth. Peter Jessop's carefully textured camera work ...
Complete credited cast:
Bill Wallis Bill Wallis - Railway Gatekeeper
Tracy Hyde Tracy Hyde - Pauline Cox
Clive Mantle Clive Mantle - Ewen
Raymond Adamson Raymond Adamson - Mr. Wickstead
Mark Hardy Mark Hardy - Robins
Cyril Cross Cyril Cross - Village Policeman
Jessie Evans Jessie Evans - Mrs. Trowel
Mollie Maureen Mollie Maureen - Old Lady on Station
David Wilkinson David Wilkinson - Bat'sman
Geoffrey Frederick Geoffrey Frederick - Cricket Captain
Peter Hutchins Peter Hutchins - Detective
Alexander John Alexander John - Radio News Reader (voice)
Alan Neame Alan Neame - Rector

Released in the UK as the support short to Dead & Buried (1981), initially in fifty screens in the ABC network in the North-East of England, later in the rest of the country.

First film of Rik Mayall.


User reviews

Katius

Katius

If you can track this down it's worth a watch. A young couple take a trip to the country for a cricket match he's playing in. She goes off exploring during the match and meets a peculiar character who invites her in for a cup of tea. Lesson learned - always be suspicious of a man who collects gnomes. It's quite well made. The acting is okay. Plenty of laughs - some intentional and some not - and the scene in which the murder victim is buried in a huge pile of rotting apples is really striking. There's another scene in which a body is discovered in a shallow grave with just the bum sticking out of the ground which is hilarious.
Vozilkree

Vozilkree

Watched this when it was released on the excellent BFI Flipside range and a worthy addition to the range it is. Some of the early scenes in an idyllic village have an almost ethereal quality to them. It's really good to see Tracey Hyde again as not seen her anything other than Melody, albeit a very different role. Things quickly change from an English village cricket match to a brutal murder. Some of the scenes with Tracey are quite disturbing. It is low budget, has some clunky dialogue and farcical policemen, I actually thought it had the look and feel of a CFF (Children's Film Foundation) film up until the first scene with Clive Mantle. After that it's clear it isn't suitable for children! I read it was Rik Mayalls first film but I didn't spot him. The BFI release comes with a nice recent interview with Tracey Hyde.
Ximathewi

Ximathewi

It's a number of years since I saw this film. It was aired one day by the BBC, in the early hours, as filling between two equally dreadful chat programs.

Think of Macbeth made by Ed Wood, a la Plan 9 from Outer Space, and you'll get the picture. It packs a lot in, what with the carefully-posed nude body of the murder victim being carried through the woods to the hut, some dreadful but unintentionally funny dialogue and stumbling acting and photography. For bad film buffs there is much to enjoy.

If you can get hold of a VHS copy of this, please burn it, unless your love of the macabre is matched by your love of poor film.