MARIA MARTIN, OR THE MURDER IN THE RED BARN (1935) Tod Slaughter | Crime, Drama | B&W

Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn is a 1935 British film melodrama film starring Tod Slaughter and Eric Portman. It was directed by Milton Rosmer. It is based on the true story of the 1827 Red Barn Murder where a 25 year old mother is shot dead by her lover (Squire William Corder) and her stepmother claims to have dreamt of the murder the night of the event, before the young woman's body was discovered. The film is also known as Murder in the Red Barn (short UK title).

SYNOPSIS
In 1820s rural England, a young girl is tricked by a villainous Squire's promises of marriage, and when she becomes pregnant and disappears, a gypsy lad is blamed.

William Corder seduces then murders innocent country maiden Maria Marten in the red barn before burying her body beneath the barn floor. She gets murdered because she becomes pregnant and too annoying for William. Her gypsy lover Carlos is hunted down as a suspect, but brings Corder to justice.

CAST & CREW
Tod Slaughter as Squire William Corder
Sophie Stewart as Maria Marten
D. J. Williams as Farmer Thomas Marten
Eric Portman as Carlos
Clare Greet as Mrs. Marten
Gerard Tyrell as Timothy Winterbottom
Ann Trevor as Nan
Stella Rho as Gypsey Crone
Dennis Hoey as Gambling Winner
Quentin McPhearson as Matthew Sennett
Antonia Brough as Maud Sennett
Noel Dainton as Officer Steele

Directed by Milton Rosmer
Written by Randall Faye
Produced by George King
Cinematography George Stretton
Edited by Charles Saunders
Music by Leo T. Croke
Release date 16 August 1936
Running time 69 minutes, 58 minutes (Ontario, Canada)
Country United Kingdom
Language English

NOTES
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.