Uncle Silas, the best screen adaptation of a Le Fanu work, has been oddly overlooked and ill-regarded, even though, with its full-blooded style and marvelous sets, lighting and camerawork, it is something of a classic of filmic Grand Guignol. As the numerous artistic credits attest, it was designed as a "prestige" feature in every sense of the word, and also as the first solo starring vehicle of one of the most important of the new Rank stars, Jean Simmons. Moreover, in England at least, it had a marvelously chilling trailer which couldn't fail to excite interest. Doubtless, in the wake of sober Dickens adaptations, its lack of restraint may have seemed pronounced, but its manipulation of audience fears, its reliance on shock, and its first-rate use of the camera and the cut for thrill effects, could hardly countenance a "restrained" approach. William K. Everson