198 Village of the Damned ( 1960 )

This  is  a  well-remembered  adaptation  of  John  Wyndham's The  Midwwich  Cuckoos, made  by  MGM's  British  arm  because  the  Americans  got  cold  feet  about  the  film's  depiction  of  virgin  birth  being  sinister. It's  a  long  time  since  I read  the  book  but  it  seems  pretty  faithful  and  would  be  chilling  enough  in  its  own  right.

The  small  village  of  Midwich  is  struck  by  a  strange  phenomenon  whereby  every  animal  ( including  people )  fall  asleep  for  a  couple  of  hours. Two  months  later  every  fertile  woman  is   pregnant  regardless  of  whether  they've  been  sexually  active. One  of  the  women  is  the  wife  of  government  scientist  Gordon  Zellaby  ( George  Sanders )  who  observes  the  development  of  the  resulting  telepathic  children  with  both  alarm  and  curiosity.As  the  children  respect  him  alone  for  his  intellect  he  has  to  decide  what  to  do  about  them.

Barbara  Shelley  ( as  Anthea  Zellaby )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Barbara's  is  the  only  decent  female  role  in  the  film ; the  rest  are  mere  cameos.

Sarah  Long  ( as  Evelyn  Harrington )

Sex : No

Death :Survives

This  was  one  of  only  two  film  roles  for  Sarah  who  is  much  better  remembered  for  her  long  stint  as  a  presenter  on  Play  School  which  lasted  until  a  year  before  her  untimely  death  from  cancer  in  1987  aged  49. she  was  married  to  Coronation  Street  actor  Peter  Baldwin.

Charlotte  Mitchell  ( as  Janet  Pawle )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

Charlotte  had  a  40  year  career  in  film , TV  and  radio. She  played  the  female  parts  in  The  Goon  Show  and  reputedly  had  a  relationship  with  Peter  Sellers. Her TV  work  included  regular  roles  in  Not  In  Front  Of  The  Children, The  Adventures  of  Black  Beauty,And  Mother  Makes  Five  and  finally, Heartbeat.  She  also  wrote  poetry  and  some  scripts  for  TV , theatre  and  radio. She  was  the  mother  o  actors  Dominic  and  Christopher  Guard. She  died  in  2012  aged  85.

Pamela  Buck ( as  Milly  Hughes )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

This  was  the  last  sighting  of  this  obscure actress  whose  other  work  was  all  on  TV  in  the  fifties.

Diane  Aubrey  ( as  WRAC  Secretary )

Sex : No

Death : Survives

A  very  tiny  part  for  Diane  in  this  one.