fear and be repulsed by them. The children begin to exhibit the power to read minds and to force people to do things against their will. There have been a number of villagers' deaths since the children were born, many of which are considered unusual, and some citizens believe the children are responsible. This is confirmed when the children are seen killing a man by making him crash his car into a wall, and again when they force his suspicious brother to shoot himself. Zellaby, whose "son" David is one of the children, is at first eager to work with them, trying to teach them while hoping to learn more about them. The children are placed in a separate building where they will learn and live. While the children continue to exert their will, Zellaby is informed that the Soviet government has fired a nuclear shell and destroyed the Russian village that was the only other location on Earth where mutant children still lived. Zellaby compares the children's resistance to reasoning with a brick wall and uses this motif as self-protection against their mind reading after the children's inhuman nature becomes clear to him. He takes a hidden time-bomb to a session with the children and tries to block their awareness of the bomb by visualizing a brick wall. David scans his mind, showing an emotion (astonishment) for the first time. The children eventually manage to break down Zellaby's mental wall and discover the truth just a moment before the bomb detonates, consuming the building in flames and killing everyone in the house, including Zellaby. Cast George Sanders as Gordon Zellaby Barbara Shelley as Anthea Zellaby Martin Stephens as David Zellaby Michael Gwynn as Alan Bernard Laurence Naismith as Doctor Willers Richard Warner as Mr. Harrington Jenny Laird as Mrs. Harrington Sarah Long as Evelyn Harrington Thomas Heathcote as James Pawle Denis Gilmore as Keith Harrington (uncredited) Charlotte Mitchell as Janet Pawle Pamela Buck as Milly Hughes Rosamund Greenwood as Miss Ogle Susan Richards as Mrs. Plumpton Bernard Archard as Vicar Peter Vaughan as P.C. Gobby John Phillips as General Leighton Richard Vernon as Sir Edgar Hargraves John Stuart as Professor Smith Keith Pyott as Dr. Carlisle June Cowell as Village Child Production Development Film rights to the novel were bought by MGM in June 1957, prior to the book's publication. Milo Frank was assigned to produce. John Lupton was