The Woman in Black * (2012, Daniel Radcliffe, Janet McTeer, Ciarán Hinds) – Classic Movie Review 10,205

The tame ghost story film The Woman in Black (2012) is sparked up by Daniel Radcliffe’s strong central performance.

The Woman in Black (2012) is an exceptionally dull and tame ghost story that has little going for it apart from Daniel Radcliffe’s strong central performance as London solicitor Arthur Kipps, grieving over the death in childbirth of his wife Stella, who is sent to settle the estate of a recently deceased woman, but finds that remote Eel Marsh House is haunted by the vengeful ghost of a woman dressed in black.

It is one of those frustrating fantasy horror dramas with no shocks, scares, swearing, screaming or surprises, and no gore either, just an eerie atmosphere and a doomy mood. At best it is sinister and spooky rather than a spine-chilling ghost story.

Susan Hill’s 1983 Gothic novel is adapted in a competent screenplay by Jane Goldman, and there is professional work behind the camera. American film composer Marco Beltrami’s soundtrack is ditinguished and Tim Maurice-Jones’s cinematography is striking. 

Also in the cast are Janet McTeer, Ciarán Hinds, Misha Handley, Jessica Raine, Roger Allam, Shaun Dooley, Mary Stockley, Liz White, Cathy Sara, Victor McGuire, Alexia Osborne, and David Burke as the village constable PC Collins.

Liz White’s character of Jennet Humfrye, is never actually referred to as The Woman in Black in the film or in the credits, where she is named as Jennet.

The movie was slightly cut in the UK for a 12A rating. Three scenes were trimmed and about 15 seconds are missing in the UK version, also used for home video releases.

A lot of companies are involved, including Alliance Films, UK Film Council, Cross Creek Pictures, Talisman Films, Exclusive Media Group, Filmgate and Sweden’s Film i Väst, but it is made in association with Hammer Films. It opened in the US to $20 million on its first weekend, the biggest opening ever of a Hammer film. In the good old days, if Hammer Films had made it, The Woman in Black would have delivered the horror thrills.

It ended up taking $129 million at the box office worldwide, against a cost of $15 million – $17 million.

Director Herbert Wise’s 1989 TV gem The Woman in Black, in which Adrian Rawlins plays Arthur Kidd, has a screenplay by Nigel Kneale and is made by Central Independent Television Films. He later played Dr Rhodes in Hammer Films’ The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death (2014), the sequel to The Woman in Black (2012).

The cast

The cast are Daniel Radcliffe as Arthur Kipps, Ciarán Hinds as Sam Daily,  Janet McTeer as Elisabeth Daily, Liz White as Jennet Humfrye, Roger Allam as Mr. Bentley, Tim McMullan as Jerome, James French as a background character, Jessica Raine as Joseph’s nanny, Daniel Cerqueira as Keckwick, Shaun Dooley as Fisher, Mary Stockley as Mrs Fisher, David Burke as PC Collins,  Sophie Stuckey as Stella Kipps, Misha Handley as Joseph Kipps, Aoife Doherty as Lucy Jerome, Victor McGuire as Gerald Hardy, Alexia Osborne as Victoria Hardy, Alisa Khazanova as Alice Drablow, Ashley Foster as Nathaniel Drablow, Sidney Johnston as Nicholas Daily.

David Burke (25 May 1934 – 10 May 2026) 

British actor David Burke is best known for playing Dr John Watson in the first series of Granada Television’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984–1985) with Jeremy Brett. He left to join the Royal Shakespeare Company along with his wife, Anna Calder-Marshall, and was replaced by Edward Hardwicke, whom he had recommended. Their son, Tom Burke, is also an actor.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,205

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