****SPOILER ALERT**** "The Snorkel", filmed in black and white, is one of the most underrated and least seen films to come out of Hammer Pictures in the late 1950's when the studio was riding high with remakes-in blood dripping color- of both Frankenstein and Dracula horror movies.
Paul Decker, Peter Van Eyck, is seen at the beginning of the movie dressed up in a skin diving outfit as his unconscious wife Madge is out cold, from a strong sedative he slipped into her glass of milk, on the sofa. Your at first puzzled at what Paul is up to, is he planning to go skin diving in bathtub?, but it soon becomes very evident what his plans are. Opening up all the gas outlets in the house Paul has Madge slowly suffocate to death as he hides under the floor, in a secret underground tunnel, with a snorkel as he breaths in all the clean air underneath while Madge is dying in the gas filled room upstairs. Paul is also diabolical enough to seal the room, from the inside, that Madge is in making it look like she killed herself.
An open and shut case of suicide for police inspector Gregoire Asian Madge's daughter Candy, Mandy Miller, is certain that Paul, her stepfather, murdered her mother. It turns out that Candy's suspicions of Paul being a cold blooded murderer goes back when her father was killed in a boating accident. Even though ruled accidental by the police Candy, who witnessed the accident, held Paul responsible for her fathers drowning.
With Paul knowing that Candy with the help of her dog Toto who, unknowing to Candy, found Paul's secret hiding place had Paul make Toto pay with his life by poisoning him. It's then that Paul tries to drive Candy insane to get her off his back and have Candy locked up in a sanitarium. It's when that plan of his fails to work Paul then decides to murder Candy. In the very same way that he murdered Candy's mother Madge.
Having Candy's friend an legal guardian Jean, Bella St. John, fooled into thinking that he's trying to help Candy out of her illogical fears of being murdered, by him, Paul at the same time elaborately sets up the plan for Candy's murder.
***SPOILERS*** Even though everything was going smoothly for Paul in getting Candy's guard down, by faking a suicide letter that her mother left her, a number of unexpected things happen that screws up his almost perfect murder plan. In a why Paul's did succeed in getting away with murder in that he couldn't be arrested and prosecuted for his crime. It just happen Paul ended up being, in his trying to murder Candy, the person that he accidentally ended up murdering!
Candy being told by everyone, even her friend Jean, that she's both silly and illogical in her both fear and dislike of her stepfather Paul Decker in the end finally give in and agrees with them. That's when she realized by going back into her house, after everyone left, to check that Paul was actually hiding there. As it turn out he in fact was and his time on earth, as well as oxygen supply, was quickly and painfully running out on him!
Paul Decker, Peter Van Eyck, is seen at the beginning of the movie dressed up in a skin diving outfit as his unconscious wife Madge is out cold, from a strong sedative he slipped into her glass of milk, on the sofa. Your at first puzzled at what Paul is up to, is he planning to go skin diving in bathtub?, but it soon becomes very evident what his plans are. Opening up all the gas outlets in the house Paul has Madge slowly suffocate to death as he hides under the floor, in a secret underground tunnel, with a snorkel as he breaths in all the clean air underneath while Madge is dying in the gas filled room upstairs. Paul is also diabolical enough to seal the room, from the inside, that Madge is in making it look like she killed herself.
An open and shut case of suicide for police inspector Gregoire Asian Madge's daughter Candy, Mandy Miller, is certain that Paul, her stepfather, murdered her mother. It turns out that Candy's suspicions of Paul being a cold blooded murderer goes back when her father was killed in a boating accident. Even though ruled accidental by the police Candy, who witnessed the accident, held Paul responsible for her fathers drowning.
With Paul knowing that Candy with the help of her dog Toto who, unknowing to Candy, found Paul's secret hiding place had Paul make Toto pay with his life by poisoning him. It's then that Paul tries to drive Candy insane to get her off his back and have Candy locked up in a sanitarium. It's when that plan of his fails to work Paul then decides to murder Candy. In the very same way that he murdered Candy's mother Madge.
Having Candy's friend an legal guardian Jean, Bella St. John, fooled into thinking that he's trying to help Candy out of her illogical fears of being murdered, by him, Paul at the same time elaborately sets up the plan for Candy's murder.
***SPOILERS*** Even though everything was going smoothly for Paul in getting Candy's guard down, by faking a suicide letter that her mother left her, a number of unexpected things happen that screws up his almost perfect murder plan. In a why Paul's did succeed in getting away with murder in that he couldn't be arrested and prosecuted for his crime. It just happen Paul ended up being, in his trying to murder Candy, the person that he accidentally ended up murdering!
Candy being told by everyone, even her friend Jean, that she's both silly and illogical in her both fear and dislike of her stepfather Paul Decker in the end finally give in and agrees with them. That's when she realized by going back into her house, after everyone left, to check that Paul was actually hiding there. As it turn out he in fact was and his time on earth, as well as oxygen supply, was quickly and painfully running out on him!