Underplayed Gems

The House Across the Lake (1954)

The House Across the Lake poster
Directed by
Ken Hughes
Genre
drama film, film noir, crime film
Country
United Kingdom
Runtime
1h 08m
Rated
NR
Rating
5.5 of 10 from 29 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

An American writer in London gets caught up in a dangerous relationship with a married woman. Her husband is found dead and suspicion falls on the writer.

tenseatmosphericsuspensefulnoirishgrittymelancholicdeliberate

What happens

The House Across the Lake (U.S. title: Heat Wave) is a 1954 British film noir crime film directed and written by Ken Hughes and starring Alex Nicol, Hillary Brooke, Sid James and Susan Stephen. Director Ken Hughes not only directed the film, he also was hired to write the screenplay based on a novel he wrote in 1952. Jimmy Sangster was assistant director, J. Elder Wills was the art director and Phil Leakey did Makeup. It was produced as a second feature by Hammer Films. It was released in the United States by Lippert Pictures. Filming began August 10, 1953 and ended on September 4, 1953. It was trade shown on May 26, 1954 at Studio One. The film was released first in the US in May, 1954 by Lippert Pictures (retitled Heat Wave), then later in the UK on June 21, 1954 by Associated British-Pathe. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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