BLACK WIDOW is another short feature made by Hammer Films in the early 1950s. It looks and feels much like the rest of the fare they were putting out during the era, limited as they were by low budgets and slightly stodgy writing. This one was directed by Vernon Sewell, who went on to make much more fun films in the years to come, such as GHOST SHIP and RADIO CAB MURDER. The dullish Robert Ayres plays a guy who suffers a dramatic car accident and ends up amnesic - that old chestnut. He returns to his blonde bombshell wife, as played by Christine Norden of the short-lived career (Diana Dors would come along and steal her thunder in a couple of years time) but there's a small-time conspiracy in store. At a mere 52 minutes in length this rushes through the proceedings but doesn't allow time for any kind of atmosphere, suspense, or depth.

So says the doctor when he is asked whether to call in a psychiatrist.This film seems to be in two parts.The first where Ayres looses and tries to recover his memory.The second where he recovers his homicidal spouse.Christine was a real blonde bombshell.Yet she only appeared in a handball of films.Maybe the competition from Diana Does was too stiff.However she goes full out as the murderous wife.Having been disappointed by the reappearance of husband Ayres,she has to go to the trouble of bumping him off again.There is a lot of plot for so short a film so,as a result,there are a lot of holes in the plot and far too many coincidences and contrivance.However it is all quite entertaining.

This had the makings of being an excellent movie. However, it needed more meat on the bones. Christine Norden and Robert Ayers give terrific performances in this noirish thriller. Unfortunately, at just over 52 minutes there just isn't enough time to allow the story to fully develop. Therefore, it ends up playing more like a TV drama than a full length film. The abrupt ending is less than satisfying. In spite of the time drawback, I'd still recommend this.

.....and "a psychiatrist!! - smile when you call me that"!! Obviously the doctor is old school - he has been called in by the Kemps when they find a man collapsed on their carpet and who is suffering from amnesia after being assaulted by a man he stopped to aid in what he thought was a hit and run accident.Exclusive Pictures (even though connected with Hammer) were anything but. Even though they didn't have their own studio and moved from premises to premises (Oakley Court, Dial Close) they managed to turn out some pretty nifty crime movies. Before Exclusive broke with Hammer they made "Black Widow" based on the B.B.C. serial "Return From Darkness" and because of the distribution deal Exclusive had with United Artists there was the obligatory American star in Robert Ayres.At just over 50 minutes there were so many loose ends and unanswered questions - the stranger is very knowledgeable around horses so Kemp assumes he may have had a farm but there isn't enough time to pursue that line. He does find a cinema stub in his coat pocket - from Epping so he retraces his steps and once he finds himself on the treed way to his house his memory just as mysteriously returns!!Christine Norden, at one time being groomed for stardom until Diana Dors came on the scene, plays his scheming wife Christine. He is Mark Sherwin and it doesn't take him long to realise that his "turning up" is not exactly a time of rejoicing for his wife. She has been having an affair with his best friend and Mark, turning up the day of his own funeral, turns their plans upside down. Mark finally realises things are serious when a) his gun goes missing from it's usual place, b) the phone wire has been cut and c) he is asked to go down to the cellar just once too often!!! But like a good last minute rescue, Sheila Kemp has followed him to Epping and she is just in time for a nick of time ending!!Biggest star of the movie would have to be John Longdon, (he plays Kemp) who in the early 1930s appeared in a few prestigious Hitchcock productions ie "Blackmail", "The Skin Game"(1931) as well as the later "Young and Innocent" (1937).