Devil Doll
Date: 1964
Director: Lindsay Shonteff
Production Company: Galaworldfilm Productions, Gordon Films
Stars: Bryant Haliday, William Sylvester, Yvonne Romain
Location(s): London, Surrey
Region(s): London C-D, South East A-D
Storyline:
As part of his show, a ventriloquist hypnotises a wealthy heiress who falls into a coma before his sinister past is uncovered.
Additional Information:
Screen captures by Phil Wilkinson
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We are aware that there are films on the site that were added when the criteria for the inclusion of locations was very different from today and, as a result, there may be scenes missing from some productions. Please do not forward additional screen captures to us but bring the detail to our attention, for we do, and are, 're-addressing' these older entries as time allows.
- Capture 1
- 14 Oct 2020
Piccadilly Circus in W1 is seen through the windscreen of a car as it takes ventriloquist ‘The Great Vorelli’ to the theatre where he is appearing. Straight ahead is Glasshouse Street with Shaftesbury Avenue starting on the right.
Rather bright on a gloomy October morning. SJ
- Capture 2
- 'Now' required
Sitting in the back of the limousine, Vorelli (Bryant Haliday) looks across the Thames as the journey continues along Grosvenor Road in SW1. In the background, across the river, stands the cranes and works of Battersea Power Station.
- Capture 3
- 19 Feb 2021
Passing Hyde Park Corner, the car turns into Park Lane W1 from Piccadilly. In the right of centre distance stands the still extant 140 Hamilton Place. The foreground buildings also feature on 'Bartleby'.
An unfortunate raindrop mars 140 Hamilton Place. May need a retake. SJ
- Capture 4
- 19 Feb 2021
Vorelli glances at Hugo his dummy sitting next to him. Park Lane with the rear of the Hamilton Club on Hamilton Place in the centre background.
What's left of the Hamilton Club. SJ
- Capture 5
- 19 Feb 2021
After an out of sequence detour through Trafalgar Square, the limousine continues north along Park Lane. The corner of Green Street stands in the left distance with Avenfield House to the right.
Not a great deal has changed. SJ
- Capture 6
- 25 Aug 2020
Approaching the camera, the car nears its destination. Upper St. Martin’s Lane in WC2 with the junction of Garrick Street and St. Martin’s church in the right distance and the corner of West Street on the right.
The very same street. (PW)
- Capture 7
- 25 Aug 2020
The camera pans with the Bentley as it comes to a halt outside a theatre. This is facing the junction of Upper St. Martin’s Lane and Monmouth Street with the corner of Shelton Street in the right background.
Swinging to the left. (PW)
- Capture 8
- 25 Aug 2020
At the entrance to the theatre, a ‘sold out’ banner has been placed across a poster advertising the ventriloquist’s show. This looks very much like the doors of the Metropolitan Theatre on Edgware Road W2.
There doesn't appear to be much on at the theatre nowadays. (PW)
- Capture 9
- 25 Aug 2020
Holding Hugo, Vorelli looks at the poster before entering the theatre. Outside the Metropolitan Theatre with The Green Man public house at the corner of Edgware Road W2 and Bell Street NW1 in the background. The location appears in ‘The Blue Lamp’.
Incessant traffic mars the view. (PW)
- Capture 10
- 25 Aug 2020
Having seen the show with his girlfriend Marianne Horn, American reporter Mark English tells Dr. Heller about the ventriloquist’s dummy walking on stage. The corner of St. Martin’s Lane and West Street in WC2 with Thorn House as the backdrop. From West Street, the junction is seen in ‘End of the Line’, ‘The Comedy Man’ and ‘Midnight Episode’.
A much changed building. (PW)
- Capture 11
- 25 Aug 2020
The shot tilts up Thorn House, which was built in 1959 and later renamed Orion House after a facelift.
Facelift completed with added trees. (PW)
- Capture 12
- 25 Aug 2020
Headlines report the murder of Vorelli’s girlfriend, Magda. Edgware Road with Bell Street in the centre background and Edgware Road Bakerloo Line station on the extreme right.
Unmistakable as the same place. (PW)
- Capture 13
- 25 Aug 2020
Carrying a newspaper, Mark returns to his office before starting to make enquiries about the ventriloquist. The entrance to Thorn House standing on Upper St. Martin’s Lane WC2.
Looking along West Street towards the entrance of the building. (PW).
- Capture 14
- 'Now' required
Mark visits Marianne at home where her family have been worrying about her coma like condition. Anthony McKay advises that the house is Foxwarren Park at Wisley in Surrey.
- Capture 15
- 'Now' required
Recovering consciousness, Marianne Horn (Yvonne Romain) looks out of her bedroom window as Vorelli is shown to her room. The view from Foxwarren Park house, found by A. R. McKay who tells us that Elizabeth Taylor stayed at the house while working on 'Cleopatra' at Pinewood.
- Capture 16
- 'Now' required
After being hypnotised into agreeing to marry Vorelli, Marianne walks through the grounds of the house. Identified by A. R. McKay, this is Foxwarren Park in Surrey, which was the only asset worth anything after Walton Studios went bust in 1961. "Hannah Weinstein had obviously moved out by the time filming took place."
- Capture 17
- 'Now' required
Mark English (William Sylvester) arrives and finds Marianne in the garden. Anthony McKay identifies this as he entrance of Foxwarren Park of Redhill Road, Wisley adding that the house appears in 'The Comeback' as well as in the pilot episode of the television series 'Four Just Men' and had been suggested to Robert Wise for a possible 'Hill House.'