Laurence Fury Walter Fitzgerald as Simon Fury Susanne Gibbs as Lavinia (as Suzanne Gibbs) Maurice Denham as Major Fraser Sybille Binder as Louisa (as Sybilla Binder) Ernest Jay as Calamy Allan Jeayes as Mr. Weatherby Edward Lexy as Colonel Jenkins Arthur Wontner as Lord Rudford Amy Veness as Mrs. Winterbourne George Woodbridge as Aimes Original novel The original novel was published in 1939. Cineguild bought the film rights before the book had even been written. Real-life inspiration In 1848, Isaac Jermy, and his son, Isaac Jermy Jermy, were shot and killed on the porch and in the hallway, respectively, of their mansion, Stanfield Hall, Norwich, by James Blomfield Rush, a tenant farmer of theirs. Rush had been their tenant for nearly a decade, and he had mortgaged and remortgaged his farm to raise money for improvements (so he said), but without improving the farm's output. The deadline to pay off the mortgages was approaching; otherwise foreclosure and eviction would follow (adversely affecting both his children and his pregnant mistress, their governess Emily Sandford). The Jermys had problems with the title to their estate, with relatives who claimed it was theirs. However, Isaac Jermy was the Recorder of Norwich, a prominent local man with legal connections, and it was therefore unlikely that he would lose the property. Rush's plan was to kill both Jermys, their servant, and the younger Jermy's pregnant wife while disguised, and blame the massacre on the rival claimants to the estate. Rush planned that Emily Sandford would provide an alibi, by stating that he was at the farm during the hour or so that the crime was committed. Rush wore a false wig and whiskers, but failed to hide his body sufficiently so that the wounded Mrs Jermy and the servant Elizabeth Chestney survived to identify him. Emily Sandford refused to support his alibi. Tried in 1849, Rush defended himself (badly) and was convicted. He was subsequently hanged. Production Star Valerie Hobson was married to producer Anthony Havelock-Allan. She later recalled "I had just had our son, who was born mentally handicapped, and he meant the film as a sort of 'loving gift', making me back into a leading lady, which was a wonderful idea. The film didn't work completely." The film was announced in September 1946. (Shortly afterwards 20th Century Fox announced they would make a film from another Shearing novel, Moss Rose.) Stewart Granger, then