Twisted Nerve

Martin Durnley is a young man kept as a child by his mother and openly disliked by his stepfather. He also has a brother living in an institution. To escape the pressure he takes on a childlike personality he calls Georgie, and in that state nobody expects anything from him. Caught stealing in a department store, he is pitied and helped by a young woman named Susan. Martin finds a way into her house and the attention quickly turns into obsession. Roy Boulting's film is one of the British psychological thrillers of the 1960s. The whistled theme Bernard Herrmann wrote for it is its best-known element; it was later used in other films and became more recognisable than the film itself. It caused argument on release because it was thought to link Down syndrome with psychopathic behaviour. The producers added a notice to the opening stating that no such scientific connection exists. Hywel Bennett plays Martin and Hayley Mills plays Susan. Who it's for: Viewers who like 1960s British thrillers, Bernard Herrmann scores, and psychological horror structures. Who it's not for: The assumption the film builds on disability is unacceptable by present-day measure, and the narrative never leaves that frame.