Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958)

★ 7.0 1h 27m IMDb
Sign in to rate this film

A woman who lives in Spain has trouble convincing anybody that a complete stranger has taken her dead brother's identity.

Chase a Crooked Shadow

Where to Watch

Netflix Netflix Watch
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video Watch
Disney Plus Disney Plus Watch
Max Max Watch
Hulu Hulu Watch
Paramount Plus Paramount Plus Watch
Apple TV Plus Apple TV Plus Watch
Peacock Peacock Watch
Crunchyroll Crunchyroll Watch
Tubi TV Tubi TV Watch
Pluto TV Pluto TV Watch
Plex Plex Watch

Rent / Buy

Rent

Apple TV Apple TV Rent
Google Play Movies Google Play Movies Rent
Amazon Video Amazon Video Rent
YouTube YouTube Rent
Vudu Vudu Rent
Fandango at Home Fandango at Home Rent

Buy

Apple TV Apple TV Buy
Google Play Movies Google Play Movies Buy
Amazon Video Amazon Video Buy
YouTube YouTube Buy
Vudu Vudu Buy
Fandango at Home Fandango at Home Buy

Cast

Richard Todd
Richard Todd as Williams, alias Ward McKenzie Prescott Jr. Died 2009 · Dublin, Ireland Richard Todd OBE (11 June 1919 – 3 December 2009) was an Irish-born British stage and film actor and soldier. Description above from the Wikipedia article Richard Todd, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full...
Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter as Kimberley Prescott Died 1985 · Michigan City, Indiana, USA Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress best known for her work in Hollywood films, Broadway, and television during the mid‑20th century. Born on May 7, 1923, in Michigan...
Herbert Lom
Herbert Lom as Police Commissar Vargas Died 2012 · Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary Herbert Lom (born Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru; 11 September 1917 – 27 September 2012) was a Czech-born British film and television actor who moved to the United Kingdom in 193...
Faith Brook
Faith Brook as Elaine Whitman Died 2012 · York, England, UK Faith Brook was a versatile English actress whose career spanned over six decades across stage, film and television. Often cast in "well-bred" or upper-class roles due to her refined bearing, she was...
Alan Tilvern
Alan Tilvern as Carlos Died 2003 · London, England, UK Alan Tilvern (5 November 1918 – 17 December 2003) was a British film and television actor with a tough-guy image. He is possibly best known for his role as R.K. Maroon in the film Who framed Roger Rab...
Alexander Knox
Alexander Knox as Chandler Bridson Died 1995 · Strathroy, Ontario, Canada From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alexander Knox (January 16, 1907 – April 25, 1995) was a Canadian actor and author of adventure novels set in the Great Lakes area during the 19th century. Desc...

Audience Reviews

John Chard 8/10 May 24, 2020
Who is hunting who?

Chase a Crooked Shadow is directed by Michael Anderson and written by David D. Osborn and Charles Sinclair. It stars Richard Todd, Anne Baxter, Herbert Lom and Faith Brook. Music is scored by Matyas Seiber, with additional guitar by Julian Bream, and cinematography by Erwin Hillier.

A man shows up at Kimberley Prescott's Spanish villa claiming to be her brother. Trouble is is that her brother, Ward Prescott, died in a car accident a year ago...

The core formula for Chase a Crooked Shadow has been well mined over the years, only recently I myself viewed the quite excellent Hammer Films Production of Paranoiac, which treads the same ground as Anderson's movie, but there's a filmic style here that adds further atmosphere to the moody mysterious tone of the narrative. Thus, in spite of the absurdities and stretching of credulity, this is well worth seeking out.

Anderson carefully builds the suspense, ensuring that what we think we know may in fact not be the case. The twists and jolts are deftly handled and the finale is a delightful bolt from the blue. Along the way we are treated to a noirish canvas, where even though the film is shot on location on the Costa Brava, there's a Gothic sheen pretty much every where you look. The interior of the villa is complete with Grandfather clock, iron gate doors, odd light shades, statuettes and one of those staircases with balustrade, all of which is given maximum shadow effects by Hillier. The outside courtyard also serves the uneasy mood well, as does the stone beach house at the bottom of the hill, it should be idyllic, but fret and discord dwell there as well.

Cast are most effective, some have called Todd too wooden, but he needs to be restrained here, he is after all playing the character's cards close to his chest. Baxter, looking positively lovely, handles the mental disintegration process with great skill, Brook really exudes a Mrs. Danvers like menace purely with cold dialogue delivery and an icy stare, while Lom has authoritative presence as the police man being pulled both ways of the mystery. Top performers doing justice to a fine mystery story that is in turn offering some visual pleasures too. 7.5/10

Similar Movies