Details

Release year: 1962

Storyline

An American tourist, a youth gang leader, and his troubled sister find themselves trapped in a top secret government facility experimenting on children.

Top credits

Directors

Joseph Losey

Writers

Cast

Macdonald Carey — Simon Wells
Shirley Anne Field — Joan
Viveca Lindfors — Freya Neilson
Alexander Knox — Bernard

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Did you know

• The film's release was delayed for two years and was not shown in Britain until the Spring of 1963, when it was released as the lower half of a Hammer Films double-bill with Maniac (1963). It had been cut by Hammer (against Joseph Losey's wishes) from a length of 96 minutes to 87 minutes and was cut further to 77 minutes when it was finally shown in America in 1965. However, the missing footage has been fully restored to the film for the DVD and Blu-ray versions and for 21st-century television showings. (Despite the restored footage, the film has usually been shown under its American release title, "These Are The Damned").

• Freya's sculptures, on a bird/freedom theme, were all actual or ongoing works by Elisabeth Frink (1930-93) who was inspired by airmen she had seen in the Second World War. According to a detailed paper available online by Susan Felleman, Frink was present on the set to guide Viveca Lindfors in adding clay, or chipping at plaster.

• Notable early appearance of Oliver Reed.