The Deadly Bees

The Deadly Bees
Promotional poster
Directed byFreddie Francis
Screenplay byRobert Bloch
Anthony Marriott
Based onA Taste for Honey
by Gerald Heard
Produced byMax J. Rosenberg
Milton Subotsky
StarringSuzanna Leigh
Guy Doleman
Frank Finlay
CinematographyJohn Wilcox
Edited byOswald Hafenrichter
Music byWilfred Josephs
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • April 1967 (1967-04)
Running time
83 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Deadly Bees is a 1967 British horror film based on H. F. Heard's 1941 novel A Taste for Honey.[1] It was directed by Freddie Francis, and stars Suzanna Leigh, Guy Doleman, and Frank Finlay.[2] The original screenplay was by Robert Bloch but was rewritten by Anthony Marriott. The film was released theatrically in the United States in 1967 and was featured in a 1998 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.[3]

Heard's novel, which was a sort of Sherlock Holmes pastiche, had been previously adapted for television as a 60-minute drama episode of The Elgin Hour: Season 1, Episode 11 under the title "Sting of Death" (22 February 1955), starring Boris Karloff as the detective character from Heard's novel, Mr Mycroft.[4] According to H. F. Heard's official website, kinescopes of this TV dramatisation survive, and, in 2014, it was made commercially available for home video as one of several features in a DVD, released by Synergy Entertainment, titled Sherlock Holmes: The Archive Collection Vol. 1.[5][6]

  1. ^ Ed. Allan Bryce, Amicus: The Studio That Dripped Blood, Stray Cat Publishing, 2000 pp. 43–45
  2. ^ "The Deadly Bees (1966)". BFI. Archived from the original on 6 May 2016.
  3. ^ "Episode guide: 905 – The Deadly Bees". 28 November 2013.
  4. ^ "Sting of Death".
  5. ^ "GERALD HEARD OFFICIAL WEBSITE".
  6. ^ "Amazon.com: Sherlock Holmes: The Archive Collection Vol. 1: Arthur Wontner, Boris Karloff, John Longden, Eille Norwood, Various: Movies & TV".