‘Thank you for the damsons, dear; they’ll make lovely jam.’
An unhappy Cornish shopkeeper swaps a family heirloom for an old curio: a mummified monkey’s paw that allegedly grants the owner three wishes. When he loses a string of bets, he wishes for the money to clear the debt, but the paw has been cursed by an Indian fakir…
Low-budget Carlton Hill Studios were a very small outfit, based on the one stage in a Victorian Villa in Maida Vale, West London. Probably their most notable production was this take on the famous spooky (but very short) story by the writer W. W. Jacobs. And that’s the main challenge for the filmmakers here; to turn a yarn of less than 4,000 words into 64 minutes’ worth of entertainment. The story has been filmed more than 20 times over the years, and very recently, but the majority of adaptations are short subjects or half hours for television. The one notable exception is the 1933 Hollywood feature that was co-directed by an uncredited Ernest B Schoedsack, the same year he was heavily involved in a little feature called ‘King Kong’ (1933).
Here, writer-director Norman Lee chooses to locate the action in Cornwall, rather than the non-specific English town of the original story. The main protagonist is storekeeper Milton Rosmer and the family dynamics of the source material are retained. He has a wife (Megs Jenkins) and a handsome son in his early twenties (Eric Micklewood). From there, Lee expands the cast to include the son’s girlfriend (Brenda Hogan), elderly delivery boy and general dogsbody (Michael Martin Harvey) and the manager of a local speedway track (a brief early appearance from British radio and TV comedian Alfie Bass).
Given this is an adaptation of such a slight tale, it’s fairly inevitable that the script is somewhat over-burdened with the setup. Rosmer is generally dissatisfied with his lot, and in debt to a bookie. Micklewood is keen on a career as a motorcycle racer, but his girlfriend wants him to settle down. Jenkins makes their breakfasts, clears the table and seems to do little else, mainly because the female roles are somewhat underwritten. But it’s the character of rascally Irishman Harvey who is often the main focus of Lee’s version, because not only is he the (unfunny) comedy relief, but he is also an important plot device, providing verification of the paw’s supernatural qualities and some invaluable extra running time.
In the original story, the paw is introduced by an old soldier friend who drops in unexpectedly, but here Rosmer picks it up from a travelling salesman. Harvey is against the deal, because he knows some of the re|ic’s history. This allows for a flashback (15 minutes long!) which takes us across the sea and back to the old country. When working as a housebreaker, Harvey witnesses a murder that seems to be the result of wishing on the paw. Rosmer poo-poo’s all this superstitious rubbish, of course, which does seem rather strange since he was keen on acquiring the object in the first place! Even those unfamiliar with the original story will not be surprised when his wishes turn out to have unforeseen, and highly tragic, consequences.
The final of the World Staring Contest had reached a stalemate…
This is a simple tale with the obvious moral of ‘be careful what you wish for’ and it’s the familiarity of this conceit that’s a serious problem for a modern audience. It’s been done to death in various forms over the years and so the story holds no surprises or insights, and little drama. Inevitably, proceedings are over-stretched to breaking point, and the budget confines the action almost completely to a couple of small, redressed sets and one unconvincing ‘outside’ location.
Performances vary, with only Jenkins shining, particularly in the final scenes. Given the vintage of the film, again it’s predictable that Lee chooses to retain the same ambiguity as Jacobs’ original ending. It’s a climax that works well in the setting of the short story but is far less effective as the end of a motion picture.
Lee directed and co-wrote around 40 features, with probably the most notable being horror/mystery ‘The Door With Seven Locks’ (1940) with Leslie Banks and Lilli Palmer. Jenkins enjoyed a successful career as a character actress on British screens for another four decades, appearing in everything from Jack Clayton’s classic ‘The Innocents’ (1961), hit musical ‘Oliver!’ (1968), creepy compendium horror ‘Asylum’ (1972) and in a recurring role on ex-Dr Who Jon Pertwee’s children’s TV show ‘Worzel Gummidge.’ Rosmer took supporting roles in many hit films, including ‘The Stars Look Down’ (1938), ‘Goodbye Mr Chips’ (1939) and a few projects for Michael Powell and Emeric Pressurger, most notably ‘The Small Back Room’ (1949). Back in the 1930s, he combined acting with directing and was the man behind the megaphone for domestic hit ‘Maria Marten, or The Murder In The Red Barn’ (1935), which proved to be the big breakthrough for the truly incredible Tod Slaughter.
All in all, this is a very minor picture with little to recommend it, other than curiosity value. There’s no question that the source material is difficult to adapt effectively and, with little budget to support the production, the results on the screen are only too predictable.
Mark David Welsh 