Description

Written and Directed by Christian Marnham, 1972

A sexually-charged true-crime drama, Christian Marnham’s The Orchard End Murder chronicles the brutal murder of a young woman (Tracy Hyde) in rural Kent, and dramatises the tragic aftermath of the crime. The hunt for the killer leads the woman’s boyfriend (Mark Hardy) to the house of an eccentric stationmaster, who tends a garden of gnomes and seems to possess a diabolical secret.

Orchard End is a cinematic curiosity item, being a short feature intended for distribution as part of a double-bill (usually packaged with Gary Sherman’s Dead and Buried). Restored by the Britsih Film Institute, this edition also includes Marnham’s short film The Showman, a fascinating documentary portrait of seedy sideshow impresario Wally Shufflebottom.

Extras

  • Interview with Christian Marnham
  • Interview with actress Tracy Hyde
  • Interview with actor David Wilkinson
  • The Showman (1970, 25 min)
  • Christian Marnham on The Showman

Details

  • Cast: Tracy Hyde, David Wilkinson, Mark Hardy, Clive Mantle, Bill Wallis
  • The Showman : UK 1981  Runtime 49 minutes  Colour Ratio 1.66:1

NOTE: This title does not ship to the UK