A huge radio hit through the wartime years and beyond, The Man in Black mesmerised millions of listeners with his macabre tales, making Valentine Dyall a household name for his star turn as the sepulchral storyteller. An early showing for the macabre side of Hammer's output and a key entry in their run of successful radio adaptations for cinema, The Man in Black (1950) has been painstakingly restored by Hammer in 4K from the original film negatives.

Willed the bulk of his wealthy estate when her father dies while attempting an unusual psychic experiment, Joan Clavering's delicate sensibilities are soon seen as an easy target for gaslighting by her vindictive stepmother.

The Man in Black will be released as a combined 4K UHD/Blu-ray Limited Collector's Edition by Hammer Films at the pre-order price of £35. The release date has yet to be confirmed by Hammer but should be confiormed soon.

LIMITED COLLECTOR'S EDITION CONTENTS:

• The Man in Black and supporting material on two discs in a stylish digipak and rigid box: one UHD and one Blu-ray, with the content duplicated across both formats.
• English, French, Italian, Spanish and German subtitles on each version of the film.

LIMITED COLLECTOR'S EDITION FEATURES:

• New commentary with writers Lizbeth Myles and Paul Cornell, creators of the widely acclaimed Hammer House of Podcast.
• New commentary with Will Fowler, writer and co-creator of the bfi’s ongoing Flipside series, and film and media historian Melanie Williams.
• Men in Black: Award-winning authors Martin Edwards and Andrew Taylor discuss John Dickson Carr (“Master of the Locked Room Mystery”) and his contemporaries at the Detection Club – the long-running club for mystery writers, first created in 1930.
• Panic Stations: Richard Hand, academic and writer of Listen in Terror, examines the rise of “horror radio” in the 1930s and ‘40s and the conditions that made Appointment with Fear such a hit with wartime and post-war British audiences.
• This is Your Storyteller: Author, actor and film historian Jonathan Rigby and Vic Pratt, writer and co-creator of the bfi’s ongoing Flipside series, discuss the life and career of Valentine Dyall, known forever to posterity as The Man in Black.
• Francis Searle Interview: Interviewed in 1988 for the British Entertainment History Project, this extract from writer/director Francis Searle’s career-long interview covers his time at Hammer.
• Suspense: three original wartime US radio shows featuring John Dickson Carr's scripts, as introduced by The Man in Black.
• Yoga and You: this Hammer archive rarity is a factual, self-help support film that thankfully didn’t demonstrate how this then-esoteric practice could be used in the furtherance of murder. 
• A gallery of stills and publicity material alongside tracks from Frank Spencer’s score.

THE BOOKLET FEATURES:

• New article by Hammer expert Wayne Kinsey examining the making of The Man in Black.
• New article by Andrew Pixley, who investigates The Man in Black’s radio origins.
• New article by Sarah Morgan, who takes a close look at the dramatic side of comedy legend Sid James.
• New article by Gayle Sequeira, who examines the psychology of gaslighting and how  it was used to great effect in The Man in Black.
• New article by Philip Kemp, who looks at the career of John Gilling – a stalwart of British films in general and Hammer in particular.
• Article by Denis Meikle, who investigates Anthony Hinds, Hammer’s main creative force for over twenty years.
• New article by Wayne Kinsey, who takes us on a tour of Oakley Court, Hammer’s stately home studio.