A sinister horror picture with superb believable performances, an excellent mix of horror and science fiction genres as well as taut and suspenseful direction from Wolf Rilla.
Directed by Wolf Rilla
Screenplay by Stirling Silliphant, Wolf Rilla, Ronald Kinnoch
Based on “The Midwich Cuckoos” 1957 novel by John Wyndham
Produced by Ronald Kinnoch
Cinematography: Geoffrey Faithfull
Edited by Gordon Hales
Music by Ron Goodwin
Production company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by Loew's
Running time: 77-78 minutes
Budget: $320,000
Box office: $2,175,000
Cast
Barbara Shelley as Anthea Zellaby
Martin Stephens as David Zellaby
Michael Gwynn as Alan Bernard
Laurence Naismith as Doctor Willers
Richard Warner as Mr. Harrington
Jenny Laird as Mrs. Harrington
Sarah Long as Evelyn Harrington
Thomas Heathcote as James Pawle
Charlotte Mitchell as Janet Pawle
Denis Gilmore as Keith Harrington
Pamela Buck as Milly Hughes
Rosamund Greenwood as Miss Ogle
Susan Richards as Mrs. Plumpton
Bernard Archard as Vicar
Peter Vaughan as P.C. Gobby
John Phillips as General Leighton
Richard Vernon as Sir Edgar Hargraves
John Stuart as Professor Smith
Keith Pyott as Dr. Carlisle
Trailer
BBC “History's Mysteries – Fact & Fiction” TV Program
Good evening, I’m your host Denis Vaughan. In tonight’s episode we’ll be examining the so-called “Midwich Time-out Incident” that reportedly occurred back in 1960 when it is said that the inhabitants of the British village of Midwich suddenly and inexplicably fell unconscious one day for several hours. Anyone entering the village also apparently succumbed to the same malady.
It is only recently that we have been able to piece together the events surrounding this inexplicable incident through numerous Freedom of Information requests. Much information has been denied to us and a great deal of the documentation (official government, scientific, military and medical sources, along with minutes from various meetings) is in some instances heavily redacted.
Surprisingly, but probably largely as a consequence of the application of the Official Secrets Act, no-one from the village in all the intervening time has come forward to give an open and public account of what transpired all those decades ago. That is apart from one individual now well into his seventies who we’ll refer back to later on. It is as if a cordon of silence has surrounded and encased Midwich and that as far as the residents of the village past and present are concerned, it is none of the outside world’s business what took place there.
To begin with though, we do know that the military established a cordon around Midwich. This was then followed by the establishment of a five-mile exclusion zone around the village for all aircraft. After a few hours, the villagers suddenly regained consciousness, and appeared to be unaffected. Or so it was believed…..
What followed these initial events with the passage of time will have the quality of a work of pure science fiction, so much so that many in government, the military and the scientific establishment scoff at the very idea of any such incident as ever having taken place.
We now take you to Midwich village in rural England where our investigative reporter, Barbara Long will try from whatever evidence is available to reconstruct the mysterious events of what has come to be called the “Midwich Time-out Incident.”
Read on for more.....
