A travelling showman called Pel Pelham (John Ireland) calls on his close friend, the bookmaker Tony Lewis (Sidney James), to discover that he is being blackmailed by a former girlfriend who calls herself Dolores. As he is engaged to be married he does not want to bring the police in for fear his wife-to-be will call off their engagement. So Pel agrees to pay the girl a visit to try and get her off Tony's back. In return, Tony puts up the money for Pel's latest act. By chance, Dolores's address is the same apartment block where the star of Pel's show lives, Henri Sapolio (Eric Pohlmann), 'The World's Famous Starving Man', who locks himself in a glass tomb and fasts for seventy days. Pel calls on Dolores and recognises her as the daughter of a famous circus owner who gave him his first job. She has had an argument with her father and has run away to London where she is struggling to make a living so has resorted to blackmail. That night as Pel and Sapolio hold a celebration party with all their circus friends to mark the opening of their new act, someone calls on Dolores at her flat and kills her. Sapolio is a chief witness since he saw the figure of a man on the darkened stairway enter her flat. But, the Scotland Yard man, Inspector Lindley (Liam Redmond), considers everyone at the party a suspect. Meanwhile, Rorke (Sidney Tafler) tries his hand at blackmailing all the principal suspects. Two more deaths follow at the circus, Tony and Sapolio, before the killer can be unmasked. Pel and the inspector set a trap by announcing that Sapolio is not actually dead, but in a coma and invite the public to see him being cared for in his cage. But, how and when will the killer make his move and will they catch him in the act?
Solid, workmanlike and unpretentious Hammer second feature that is very typical of the kind of stuff the studio was making before they shot to international stardom with the horror films and reinventing that genre in the process. Directed at a fair lick by veteran 'B' picture director Montgomery Tully who succeeds in generating some tension like when Rorke taunts the killer in a tube station and as the latter's mind drifts debating whether or not to push him under an approaching train, the noise from it drowns out Rorke's voice in a suspenseful moment. The killer's identity is known to us from the start so this is no mystery movie, but its attractive and unusual setting of a traveling circus act lifts this likeable little picture to heights well above the average British 'B'. There are many familiar faces in the cast including Eric Pohlmann, best known as the voice of the unseen Blofeld in the early James Bond movies, who provides the humour as the suffering circus performer who makes his living by starving himself for 70 days (really?!) in 'The Glass Cage' of the title. Sidney James is excellent as the straight talking, down to earth and streetwise businessman; Sidney Tafler is noteworthy in one of his many slimy villian roles and the imported American leading man John Ireland is also quite good as Pel Pelham. He is most effective in the scenes with his family like when his young son, Peter, pays more attention to his father's show than his school work longing to be the next Sapolio. Although he loves it that his son is proud of him, Pel wants his son to succeed through his academic work and not be an "outsider" like him in some nice believable insight into his home life. Honor Blackman also offers a pleasant performance as Pel's wife Jenny although, despite being billed second, gets very little to do and is only in a small handful of scenes. Liam Redmond deserves praise as Inspector Lindlay and there is a great little scene where he attempts to plug Pel for information. "Look Lindlay, you do your job and I'll do mine. If I did your job I'd be on the side of the underdog" he says annoyed that he is being asked to spy on his friends. "Sometimes that's a very dangerous dog", Lindley replies. Look out for Sam Kydd as a drunken circus doctor and Bernard Bresslaw's in there too in a small unaccredited appearance. The film benefits from Walter J Harvey's atmospheric camerawork, which takes in some nice London locations around Trafalgar Square and Westminster enhancing the period atmosphere and feeling for place.
Solid, workmanlike and unpretentious Hammer second feature that is very typical of the kind of stuff the studio was making before they shot to international stardom with the horror films and reinventing that genre in the process. Directed at a fair lick by veteran 'B' picture director Montgomery Tully who succeeds in generating some tension like when Rorke taunts the killer in a tube station and as the latter's mind drifts debating whether or not to push him under an approaching train, the noise from it drowns out Rorke's voice in a suspenseful moment. The killer's identity is known to us from the start so this is no mystery movie, but its attractive and unusual setting of a traveling circus act lifts this likeable little picture to heights well above the average British 'B'. There are many familiar faces in the cast including Eric Pohlmann, best known as the voice of the unseen Blofeld in the early James Bond movies, who provides the humour as the suffering circus performer who makes his living by starving himself for 70 days (really?!) in 'The Glass Cage' of the title. Sidney James is excellent as the straight talking, down to earth and streetwise businessman; Sidney Tafler is noteworthy in one of his many slimy villian roles and the imported American leading man John Ireland is also quite good as Pel Pelham. He is most effective in the scenes with his family like when his young son, Peter, pays more attention to his father's show than his school work longing to be the next Sapolio. Although he loves it that his son is proud of him, Pel wants his son to succeed through his academic work and not be an "outsider" like him in some nice believable insight into his home life. Honor Blackman also offers a pleasant performance as Pel's wife Jenny although, despite being billed second, gets very little to do and is only in a small handful of scenes. Liam Redmond deserves praise as Inspector Lindlay and there is a great little scene where he attempts to plug Pel for information. "Look Lindlay, you do your job and I'll do mine. If I did your job I'd be on the side of the underdog" he says annoyed that he is being asked to spy on his friends. "Sometimes that's a very dangerous dog", Lindley replies. Look out for Sam Kydd as a drunken circus doctor and Bernard Bresslaw's in there too in a small unaccredited appearance. The film benefits from Walter J Harvey's atmospheric camerawork, which takes in some nice London locations around Trafalgar Square and Westminster enhancing the period atmosphere and feeling for place.