This is Dead Ringer by Dennis Hamley Essay Example for Free

This is Dead Ringer by Dennis Hamley Essay Giles Conover also disguises himself as a cleaner and a scholar of great age. Naomi Drake disguises herself as a match seller, shop assistant and one who washes up. The atmosphere throughout the film is sinister and clouded due to special effects and the black-and-white photography. The use of light and shade is great and adds tension to the audience and this is great for a movie of this age. And also when the Creeper moves there is a sound track that is very scary and this gives a feeling of; Something is going to happen for sure. I cannot miss this. It grabs attention!!! My favourite scene was when the Creeper broke the back of Giles Conover and then tried to kill Sherlock Holmes. We see the Creepers face for the first time and he is hideously ugly. Of course Sherlock Holmes kills him, with a snub-nose Bulldog revolver. Holmes then smashes the final bust of Napoleon and recovers the valuable Borgia pearl. This was an exciting and dramatic ending to the film. Dr Watsons comic acting was humorous. When he hid the pearl in his mouth for protection of the precious stone it was amusing because no one noticed where it had gone. The original story, The Adventure of the Six Napoleons, did not have the Hoxton Creeper in it. Beppo is the killer in the original story but using Rondo Hatton as the Creeper was brilliant idea by the film studio and made people even more interested in the movie. I feel The Pearl of Death was a success basically because of the impression that was given by the Creeper. In The Scarlet Claw, another film starring Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, disguise is also used. The murderer is a master of disguise and uses five disguises, including that of a woman! The postman called Potts, who is the murderer, dresses up as Judge Brissons maid and tears out the judges throat with a garden weeder. This is the weapon he uses to kill all his victims. The film is set in Canada in the lonely village of Le Mort Rouge. The setting is misty and creepy. There is a marsh next to the village where Sherlock Holmes chases the murderer, but does not catch him. This is a vivid scene which I enjoyed. In the end though, Holmes foils the villain who is a mass murderer and master of disguise. Miles Mander plays two roles that are very different in the two films I have watched. Firstly, he acts as a villain on the loose: Giles Conover, and then he acts as a man totally scared and out of his wits: Judge Brisson. I like his role as Conover; it suits him because he looks a very mean man who will do anything for his needs. To conclude, I have enjoyed these films. But I was not scared by them. My English teacher says the Creeper is very scary but I think differently. I believe Rondo Hatton would have been scary to those watching in the cinemas half a century back. I think these films are not scary to a modern audience because there are far scarier horror films these days due to modern technology and special effects. I personally feel Basil Rathbone is an excellent actor; he was very good for the era he was in. I feel more tension is needed to make it up to the scratch of standard films today. I feel that some of the characters are too one dimensional and they need a little bit more feeling in their acting, but still the camera work is excellent for a film of this age. The films seem very old fashioned. I think improvements are needed to make them a bit more modern. There is fog, a lonely marsh, a bell ringing, and a monster on the loose. This creates a creepy, sinister atmosphere. But this gives me an impression that these were stories of many ages back. These days films are more interesting but these films are ace because of their many turns and twists. 1125 words Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Arthur Conan Doyle section.