Poor Candy Brown (Mandy Miller). She cannot get anybody to believe her. She's 100% certain that her cold blooded stepfather Paul Decker (Peter van Eyck) has murdered her mother, despite the evidence seeming to indicate that the woman committed suicide. Mandy, who also believes in her heart that Paul had similarly murdered her father once upon a time, sticks to her guns. But the adults around her keep stubbornly insisting that she *must* be making all of this up.

It's easy to be on Candy's side here. With so many thick headed adult characters, you truly feel her frustration and desperation. Will she ever obtain the proof she needs that Paul is a creep? People like her chaperone Jean Edwards (Betta St. John, "The City of the Dead"),Mr. Wilson (William Franklyn),or the hearty police inspector (Gregoire Aslan) refuse to take her seriously, even though she doesn't seem to be the sort of girl who'd be prone to flights of fancy.

The suspense lies not in a "did he or didn't he" scenario - we see Paul murder Candy's mother in the quiet, ingenious opening set piece. The title object plays a pivotal role. Rather, the tension arises in Candy's predicament, and whether or not she'll be vindicated before the evil Paul strikes again. And we know it's possible. The looks he keeps giving her show that he thinks that he'll have to kill her just to shut her up.

Efficient direction by Oscar winning cinematographer Guy Green ("Great Expectations", 1946) and sharp black & white photography make this a fine entertainment, as well as strong performances from all concerned. Miller makes Candy a sympathetic character, and with his facial features van Eyck was obviously a natural for screen villainy.

This viewer would suggest that fans of Hammer horror give features like this a try, just to show that the famed British studio wasn't just a one trick pony.

Seven out of 10.

Sweet teenage girl Candy Brown (a fine and sympathetic performance by the cute Mandy Miller) suspects that her smooth, yet slimy stepfather Paul Decker (splendidly played to the hateful sleazy hilt by Peter van Eyck) murdered her mother and made it look like a suicide. Of course, Candy can't get anyone to believe her. Director Guy Green, working from a rather blah script by Jimmy Sangster and Peter Myers, unfortunately allows the story to unfold at a too leisurely pace and thus fails to build much in the way of suspense. Moreover, the film punks out with a disappointingly limp coda at the very end that feels tacked on. Luckily, the able cast make the most out of the so-so material: Miller makes for an attractive and appealing protagonist, van Eyck positively oozes as one extremely vile and no-count bastard, Betta St. John does well as warm and supportive nanny Jean Edwards, and Gregoire Aslan is excellent as a pragmatic French inspector. Jack Asher's crisp black and white cinematography boasts a few artful fades and dissolves. Francis Chagrin's shivery score does the spine-tingling trick. The key problem with this picture is that it's just too slow and talky for the first hour; nothing much happens until the last third when Candy and Paul engage in a deadly battle of wits that culminates in a pleasingly tense and ironic conclusion. Decent, but nothing special.

A woman is murdered by her husband in an ingenious manner. He kills her with gas and hides in the room under the floor. Why does he remain inside the room and hidden? Because, since the door was locked from the inside, everyone assumed it was a suicide...at least everyone but the victim's young daughter. What makes it interesting is not really the murder but what happens after...when this teen begins making accusations that appear unfounded. Apparently, the killer is sick of it...or perhaps he always planned on also killing the kid--either way, by the end of the film he's ready to murder her as well. This leads to a particularly inspired ending. While I might have made it even a bit darker, I did like how the writer made it a little vague as to what happened next. I am sorry I sound a bit cryptic--I just don't want to divulge exactly what happens next.

According to IMDb, the way the murderer commits his crime and gets away with it is impossible--and I certainly assume IMDb is correct about this. So, while it's not possible for a person to use a scuba-like device to kill someone and avoid asphyxiation (at least the way they show it here),it does keep your interest. Plus Van Eyck was a great villain and the film sure ended on a high note--making the film well worth seeing.