Crescendo (film)

Crescendo

German film poster
Directed by Alan Gibson
Produced by Michael Carreras
Written by Alfred Shaughnessy
Jimmy Sangster
Starring Stefanie Powers
James Olson
Margaretta Scott
Music by Malcolm Williamson
Cinematography Paul Beeson
Production
company
Distributed by Warner Bros.-Seven Arts (USA)
Release dates
 1970
Running time
 95 min.
Country England
Language English
Budget £299,000[1]

Crescendo is a 1970 British psychological thriller film directed by Alan Gibson and starring Stefanie Powers, James Olson and Margaretta Scott.[2] It was made by Hammer Film Productions.

Plot

Drawn to the spectacular south of France to research the late composer Henry Ryman, music student Susan Roberts (Stefanie Powers) encounters his son, drug-addicted Georges (James Olson) and his eccentric family. Investigating the haunting strains of an unfinished Ryman concerto leads Susan to discover an empty piano… and a brutally savaged mannequin! Georges tells her she’s the lookalike of his lost love. But Susan may not be the only one at the villa with an eerie doppelgänger.

Cast

Production

Alfred Shaughnessy wrote the script in the mid 60s. In 1966 Michael Reeves approached Hammer with the script. James Carreras tried to make it for two years with Joan Crawford but could not get the finance. In 1969 the project was reactivated, with Jimmy Sangster hired to rewrite the script and Alan Gibson to direct.[3]

Release

The film was released in the United States theatrically in the fall of 1972. In American theaters, it was paired with the Hammer vampire film Dracula A.D. 1972 starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing.

Its performance at the box office was disappointing.[1]

The film was released to DVD by the Warner Archive Collection in March 2009.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 David Hanks Crescendo at EOFFTV 2009 accessed 14 April 2014
  2. ↑ http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/30176
  3. ↑ Marcus Hearn, The Hammer Vault, Titan Books, 2011 p117

External links