SHORT SHARP SHOCKS Volume Two
★★★☆☆
RELEASED OUT NOW!
►1943-1986 | 15 | Blu-ray Director Various
►Cast John Le Mesurier, Geraldine James, Lennard Pearce, Screaming Lord Sutch
BLU-RAY DEBUT Another BFI Flipside release sifts the archive for dark and curious shorts.
Quiz-Crime No 1 and Quiz- Crime No 2 are a pair of starchy straight whodunnits from the ’40s. Escape From Broadmoor (1948) stars a young John Le Mesurier in a low-key blend of ghost story and crime thriller that only comes alive when it leans into genre. 1946 road safety film The Three Children plays more ambiguously with the supernatural, but finds a distinct chill in a post-war Britain of fog and prowling strangers. 1958’s Mingoloo, meanwhile, is a dud that never capitalises on its eerie, dream-based premise; it’s eclipsed by a compellingly lurid promo film for self-styled nut-ghoul Screaming Lord Sutch’s 1961 single “Jack The Ripper”.