bensonmum2 Paul Decker (Peter Van Eyck) has come up with a unique way to murder his wife. He drugs her drink, seals the room she's in from the inside, and turns on the gas. Decker then puts on a snorkel connected to fresh air and hides in a crawlspace under the floor. Once his wife's body is found and the police complete their investigation, he climbs from his hiding spot and goes on as if nothing happened. Everything seems to be going perfectly for Decker until his stepdaughter, Candy Brown (Mandy Miller), starts to question Decker's role in her mother's death. Everyone tells Candy she's imagining things, but she's certain Decker is a killer. Can she prove it in time?Hammer is known for their vibrant color films, but when they did black and white (Paranoiac, Scream of Fear, and Nightmare for example), the results were just as solid. The Snorkel is an excellent little thriller. While there's no question as to whether or not Decker killed his wife, the fun comes in watching Candy try to prove it before Decker does her in. van Eyck is amazing. He does more with a look than most actors can with a page of dialogue. You can just see how bad he wants to kill Candy without ever having to say a word. I also enjoyed the supporting performance of Betta St. John. I'm really surprised to see she didn't do more with her career. Technically, the film is also rock solid. The cinematography is stunning. Guy Green's direction is what I'd call professional. He keeps the film moving at a nice pace. And the locations are beautiful. Most Hammer films seem so much more stage-bound than The Snorkel. Finally, I love the film's finale. I won't spoil it, but it's brilliant. Overall, it's a terrific film. My biggest complaint comes from the lack of thoroughness displayed by the police. Had the police spent more than five minutes at the crime scene, they absolutely would have found Decker hiding under the floor. It's a real lack of logic that hurts the overall movie. Still, a solid 7/10 from me.

AaronCapenBanner Guy Green directed this mystery/suspense tale that stars Mandy Miller as Candy Brown, a young woman living in Italy at her stepfather's villa, whom she suspects of murdering her mother and father in an effort to inherit the family wealth, but she doesn't know how, and can't convince either her other relatives or the authorities. Of course, she is right, as the stepfather(Paul Decker, played by Peter van Eyck) has built a trap door in the bedroom where he can conceal himself, and uses a snorkel and a series of tubes to breathe in air. He needed this because he killed her with gas, and is now planning on doing away with Candy. Clever film builds interest in its characters and premise(with an unknown cast) that lead to a most effective, and ironic twist ending.

cabarbaro Hammer films are known for its horror movies, but there was a time when they made some fine thrillers like this, a delicious movie with the structure of a Columbo episode, only ten years in advance. With five minutes we know who is the murder and how he did it. From there on, we will suffer with a brave girl who, like the lieutenant, years later, knows from heart who the murder is, but, since the method he used is a clever one, eluding all around him, needs to solve the puzzle before the murder turns to her. No goofy moments here, the movie is truly watchable after all these years. It was not easy to find some years ago, but today you can find where to see it online with a quick research on the web.

sol1218 ****SPOILER ALERT**** "The Snorkel", filmed in black and white, is one of the most underrated and least seen films to come out of Hammer Pictures in the late 1950's when the studio was riding high with remakes-in blood dripping color- of both Frankenstein and Dracula horror movies.Paul Decker, Peter Van Eyck, is seen at the beginning of the movie dressed up in a skin diving outfit as his unconscious wife Madge is out cold, from a strong sedative he slipped into her glass of milk, on the sofa. Your at first puzzled at what Paul is up to, is he planning to go skin diving in bathtub?, but it soon becomes very evident what his plans are. Opening up all the gas outlets in the house Paul has Madge slowly suffocate to death as he hides under the floor, in a secret underground tunnel, with a snorkel as he breaths in all the clean air underneath while Madge is dying in the gas filled room upstairs. Paul is also diabolical enough to seal the room, from the inside, that Madge is in making it look like she killed herself. An open and shut case of suicide for police inspector Gregoire Asian Madge's daughter Candy, Mandy Miller, is certain that Paul, her stepfather, murdered her mother. It turns out that Candy's suspicions of Paul being a cold blooded murderer goes back when her father was killed in a boating accident. Even though ruled accidental by the police Candy, who witnessed the accident, held Paul responsible for her fathers drowning.With Paul knowing that Candy with the help of her dog Toto who, unknowing to Candy, found Paul's secret hiding place had Paul make Toto pay with his life by poisoning him. It's then that Paul tries to drive Candy insane to get her off his back and have Candy locked up in a sanitarium. It's when that plan of his fails to work Paul then decides to murder Candy. In the very same way that he murdered Candy's mother Madge. Having Candy's friend an legal guardian Jean, Bella St. John, fooled into thinking that he's trying to help Candy out of her illogical fears of being murdered, by him, Paul at the same time elaborately sets up the plan for Candy's murder.***SPOILERS*** Even though everything was going smoothly for Paul in getting Candy's guard down, by faking a suicide letter that her mother left her, a number of unexpected things happen that screws up his almost perfect murder plan. In a why Paul's did succeed in getting away with murder in that he couldn't be arrested and prosecuted for his crime. It just happen Paul ended up being, in his trying to murder Candy, the person that he accidentally ended up murdering!Candy being told by everyone, even her friend Jean, that she's both silly and illogical in her both fear and dislike of her stepfather Paul Decker in the end finally give in and agrees with them. That's when she realized by going back into her house, after everyone left, to check that Paul was actually hiding there. As it turn out he in fact was and his time on earth, as well as oxygen supply, was quickly and painfully running out on him!