Neither the Sea nor the Sand * (1972, Susan Hampshire, Frank Finlay, Michael Petrovitch) – Classic Movie Review 13,523

The bizarre 1972 British horror film Neither the Sea nor the Sand is based on the book by Gordon Honeycombe, and stars Susan Hampshire, Frank Finlay, Michael Petrovitch and Michael Craze.

Director Fred Burnley’s 1972 British horror film Neither the Sea nor the Sand stars Susan Hampshire, Frank Finlay, Michael Petrovitch and Michael Craze.

Susan Hampshire stars in this screen adaptation of the novel by popular former newsreader Gordon Honeycombe, who also writes the screenplay, about a woman called Anna Robinson who falls in love on holiday in Jersey but whose lover Hugh (Michael Petrovitch) has a fatal heart attack.

During the night Hugh miraculously returns, but his religious brother George (Frank Finlay) tries to convince Anna that Hugh is dead, accusing of being a witch who has conjured an evil spirit that possessed his brother’s dead body, so somehow he is apparently still alive.

Sadly her troubles aren’t over because the lover’s decaying body lives on to love her and terrorise others, including his religious brother George (Frank Finlay), whom he kills.

Neither the Sea nor the Sand is neither moody nor exciting, just horrid, though it just about might be in the interesting category.

The performances are on the plus side but the picture-postcard scenery and pedestrian direction are drawbacks, not to mention the wilfully peculiar story itself, even advertising itself as bizarre: ‘A bizarre story of love, life and death.’

The UK cinema version was cut by the BBFC to edit a sex scene between Hugh and Anna, but the 2008 Odeon DVD is uncut. Susan Hampshire had a body double for sex scene, Marcia Fox.

The cast are Susan Hampshire, Frank Finlay, Michael Petrovitch, Jack Lambert, Michael Craze, David Garth, and Anthony Booth.

Neither the Sea nor the Sand is directed Fred Burnley, runs 116 minutes, is made by Tigon British Film Productions, LMG Film Productions and Portland Film Corporation, is released by Tigon Film Distributors (UK) and International Amusements Corp (US), is written by Gordon Honeycombe (screenplay) and Rosemary Davies  (additional dialogue), is shot by David Muri, is produced by Jack Smith and Peter Fetterman, and is scored by Nahum Heiman

Honeycombe was a newscaster at ITN from 1965 to 1977. He concentrated on writing from 1977 to 1984, but returned to regular newsreading from 1984 to 1989 as chief newsreader at TV-am.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,523

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