Intriguing and pretty bizarre, somewhat grotesque. Young girl character is a heroine par excellence. Evil guy is totally evil. Acting superb. Interesting setting. Was trying to figure out where movie took place (first guessed Mexico, then Spain. Location: Italy).The story unfolds excellently. Had my full attention throughout. Clever. All acting first rate. Dialog couldn't be better. Conclusion--one of best I've ever seen.Looked up young girl actress on this site and found out she only made movies thru her teen years, then retired (became an aux-pair in, I think, New York, then got married and lived a life of domestic bliss). Villain was typecast in other films as coldblooded Nazi.Has gotten me wanting to see more Hammer films.

Hammer films are known for its horror movies, but there was a time when they made some fine thrillers like this, a delicious movie with the structure of a Columbo episode, only ten years in advance. With five minutes we know who is the murder and how he did it. From there on, we will suffer with a brave girl who, like the lieutenant, years later, knows from heart who the murder is, but, since the method he used is a clever one, eluding all around him, needs to solve the puzzle before the murder turns to her. No goofy moments here, the movie is truly watchable after all these years. It was not easy to find some years ago, but today you can find where to see it online with a quick research on the web.

Out of Hammer Films, The Snorkel is directed by Guy Green and co-written by Anthony Dawson, Peter Myers & Jimmy Sangster. It stars Peter van Eyck, Betta St. John, Mandy Miller, Gregoire Aslan & William Franklyn (Wilson). Music is by Francis Chagrin and cinematography by Jack Asher.There is no plot synopsis needed for The Snorkel because it takes us straight into the story by having us witness the perfect murder of a wife and mother, and we know who perpetrated it as well, it's the husband! There's a gimmick, the snorkel of the title, and film's success mostly hinges on a devilish twist for the finale. In between the plot revolves around the daughter of the deceased, Candy (Miller), trying to prove her stepfather has killed her mom even though it appears near impossible for him to have done so. Naturally sadistic dad has plans for Candy as well. Coming as it did during Hammer's run of colour laden reinventions of the Universal monsters, The Snorkel, in black and white, received very little attention at home and abroad. Hammer would release in the 60s, post the success of Psycho, a number of very good black and white psychological thrillers such as Taste of Fear, Paranoiac, Nightmare and Maniac, this period of Hammer film would certainly have seen The Snorkel getting more attention publicly. However, although bad timing can account for some of the reason it was an unsuccessful release, the truth of the matter is that it's just not particularly memorable outside of the gimmick and denouement, and even then with the finale it loses dramatic impact by going on 5 minutes too long for what one imagines was a censor avoiding appeasement. A shame because acting is mostly good, Jack Asher's camera work holds the eyes and production value is higher than expected (location for the shoot was San Remo in Italy).Undeniably it's got an interesting premise at heart, but it is kind of silly when examined still further. Making this a cautiously recommended Hammer thriller for those who have yet to see the far better films of its type that the company produced in the 60s. 5/10

This is an early British Hammer film, but it was filmed in Italy and co-scripted by future Italian director Antonio Marghareti, so it also in some ways anticipates the later Italian giallo thrillers, mostly in its enjoyably absurd plot. In the creepy opening scene a man (Peter Van Eck) puts on a scuba mask (it's technically not a "snorkel") and hides under the floor boards in order to gas his sleeping wife from inside her locked room. The police naturally think its suicide, but the murdered woman's teen daughter (Mandy Miller) comes home from school and immediately suspects the truth--naturally since she earlier witnessed her step-father drowning her father. Everyone thinks she's crazy, of course, (even after he bumps off her little dog, "Toto", too). Her governess (Betta St. John )meanwhile is torn between her loyalty her apparently delusional charge and her attraction to the suave, seemingly distraught widower.Now if this were a giallo there would be many more, no doubt very bloody, murders, the couple would graphically consummate their relationship, and even little Mandy would probably get in on the erotic and/or violent action somehow (i.e. check out the later giallo "Smile Before Death" which has a very similar plot, but with all these elements added in). But don't expect anything like that here. Still, this is very entertaining and has some ironic and effective twists at the end (the very last scene, however, is a terrible cop-out, no doubt tacked on to ameliorate the douchebags, I mean censors). The acting is indeed very good, especially that of Van Eyck and Miller (I hope this isn't the same Mandy Miller who later appeared in David Sullivan's horrible "Emmanuelle in Soho", but that seems pretty unlikely). You definitely want to check this one out.