Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn (1935)

Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn is a 1936 British film melodrama film starring Tod Slaughter and Eric Portman. It was directed by Milton Rosmer, whose most famous film was the English-language version of Emil and the Detectives that same year. It is based on the true story of the 1827 Red Barn Murder. The film is also known as Murder in the Red Barn (short UK title).

The film is based on the popular 19th century melodramas about the case and is highly theatrical, with an opening in which all the characters are introduced by a Master of Ceremonies in front of a painted backdrop, but is also slightly more lavishly produced and cinematically inventive than the later films directed by Tod Slaughter's producer George King. Slaughter gives a full-throated over-the-top performance in a calculatedly melodramatic style, encouraging the audience to vicariously share in his villainy; this approach became his trademark and gives his films a cult status of their own peculiar kind.

Synopsis

The unfortunately-surnamed actor Tod Slaughter, in his film debut, plays William Corderes, the lover who seduces then murders innocent country maiden Maria Marten (Sophie Stewart) in the red barn before burying her body beneath the barn floor.

Actors