Daughter of Darkness ** (1948, Siobhan McKenna, Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed) – Classic Movie Review 13,685

The 1948 British Gothic horror thriller film Daughter of Darkness stars Siobhán McKenna as a pretty young Irish woman with murderous passions.

Director Lance Comfort’s 1948 British Gothic horror thriller film Daughter of Darkness is written by Max Catto from his own 1938 play They Walk Alone, and stars Siobhán McKenna, Anne Crawford, and Maxwell Reed.

Daughter of Darkness is an appropriately noir Gothic melodrama about a throbbingly introverted colleen, pretty young Irish woman Emily ‘Emmy’ Beaudine (Siobhán McKenna), who is sent away to England by Father Corcoran (Liam Redmond), and gets a home and a job on a Yorkshire farm owned by the Tallent family. But Emily’s nympho passion for men runs so strong that it results in murder. A handsome young boxer from Emily’s past called Dan (Maxwell Reed) turns up and accuses her of having tried to kill him, and murder ensues. A concerned Bess Stanforth (Anne Crawford) sets out to investigate.

The film is attractively set on the dark and haunting Yorkshire moors, but the yarn is too slow-moving and hard-to-swallow either to chill the soul or engage the heart, and the acting is conscientious rather than inspired. There are some marks for trying something truly offbeat, though, there are some notable names in the cast, and it is certainly in the interesting category. Irish stage actress Siobhán McKenna’s performance in a tricky, over-wrought maniacal role, was admired in its day, but maybe has not worn too well. The cooler acting style of Anne Crawford has aged better.

It was shot at Riverside Studios (then Alliance Studios), Hammersmith, London, and on location.

Even with a US release, it lost money thanks to its high budget with costly three weeks of location shooting.

Release dates: 23 January 1948 (UK) and 27 March 1948 (US).

Cast: Siobhan McKenna, Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed, George Thorpe, Barry Morse, Honor Blackman, Liam Redmond, Cyril Smith, David Greene, Grant Tyler, Doris Gordon, Arthur Hambling, George Merritt, Alexis Milne, Nora O’Mahoney, Ann Clery, Iris Vandeleur, Leslie Armstrong, Norman Shelley.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,685

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