Jack Clayton, the film's producer and director, had already made such notable movies as "Moulin Rouge," "Beat the Devil," "Moby Dick," and "Room at the Top," and he would go on to do "The Great Gatsby."
For Mr. Clayton, the British director who first clicked with "Room at the Top," has done a fine job of infusing this drama with spooky atmosphere and a certain sense of the weird and supernatural that should clobber the gullible.