I think this is primarily down to the script, which doesn’t do justice to the original book, and results in a weak and rushed ending – probably due to the tight shooting schedule.

I think, although some of the film’s production problems do come through in the final product, and whilst it’s certainly not as bad as many critics have made out over the years, To the Devil a Daughter is still a deeply flawed viewing experience. And, due to scheduling issues with regard to the two main stars, most of the film had to be shot during a two-week window in late September 1975. However, by the time all the tweaks had been done to the script, and casting had been completed, the film actually started shooting during the second week of September of that year.

The film was originally to have been made in the autumn of 1974, but by the time the co-production deal with a German company was finally completed, the first day of shooting was tentatively fixed for early July 1975. To the Devil a Daughter was adapted from the book by John Peacock, but Chris Wicking later came on board the production and pretty much re-wrote Peacock’s version this according to my aforementioned Scholastic tome. And then, many years later still, I did finally catch up with the Hammer film version on television, but due to the lateness of the hour, found it difficult to keep awake throughout, hence always fancied giving it a second look, which is where we are today… I did manage to purchase a copy of the book a few years later, which I read and quite enjoyed, although I much preferred some of Wheatley’s other occult-based novels, including The Devil Rides Out, Gateway to Hell and The Satanist. As a pimply young boy I’d already developed an obsession with horror films so just having such a book listed in a ‘recommended reading’ children’s book list was exciting enough, and I think I eventually managed to persuade my parents to buy it for me under the banner of it being an educational tome, hence I didn’t even have to hand over any of my very thin-on-the-ground pocket money – a win: win situation! Although, at the time, I did find the book a fairly dry read, it did make me want to track down the book that the film was based on and, of course, to watch the film at some point – probably via a late-night screening on television (this was before the days when I had access to a video player). The book was specifically about the production and selling of Hammer Films’ version of To the Devil a Daughter. I first heard about the filmed version of Dennis Wheatley’s occult novel, from 1953, way back in 1981 when I picked up a book called The Facts about a Feature Film: Featuring Hammer Films from a book club I belonged to, through the school I was attending at the time. Cast: Richard Widmark, Christopher Lee, Natassja Kinski, Honor Blackman, Denholm Elliot, Derek Francis, Anthony Valentine, Petra Peters

To the devil a daughter dennis wheatley