By Richard Harland Smith
13 Frightened Girls
Brief Synopsis
A diplomat's daughter gets mixed up in international intrigue and murder.
Cast & Crew
Read More
William Castle
Director
Murray Hamilton
Wally Sanders
Kathy Dunn
Candace Hull
Lynne Sue Moon
Mai-Ling
Joyce Taylor
Soldier
Hugh Marlowe
John Hull
Film Details
Also Known As
The Candy Web
Genre
Adventure
Spy
Release Date
Jul
1963
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
William Castle Pictures
Distribution Company
Columbia Pictures
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 29m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color (Pathécolor)
Synopsis
Candace Hull, teenaged daughter of an American diplomat working in London, arrives there on holiday from the Swiss boarding school she attends with other daughters of London-based diplomats. She visits Mai-Ling, niece of the Communist Chinese ambassador, and stumbles onto a major political secret involving a murder. To help CIA man Wally Sanders, upon whom she has a crush, she passes on this information and other espionage coups made possible by her freedom of movement at the various embassies. After a time Candace becomes known as "Kitten"--a much-hunted spy. Wally finally realizes that only Candace can be "Kitten," and the Chinese ambassador simultaneously comes to the same conclusion. Back at school in Switzerland, Candace faces assassination but, with the help of her classmates, is rescued by Wally.
Director
William Castle
Director
Cast
Murray Hamilton
Wally Sanders
Kathy Dunn
Candace Hull
Lynne Sue Moon
Mai-Ling
Joyce Taylor
Soldier
Hugh Marlowe
John Hull
Khigh Dhiegh
Kang
Charlie Briggs
Mike
Norma Varden
Miss Pittford
Garth Benton
Peter Van Hagen
Maria Cristina Servera
Argentina
Janet Mary Prance
Australia
Penny Anne Mills
Canada
Alexandra Bastedo
England
Ariane Glaser
France
Ilona Schutze
Germany
Anna Baj
Italy
Aiko Sakamoto
Japan
Judy Pace
Liberia
Luz Gloria Hervias
Mexico
Gina Trikonis
Russia
Marie-louise Bielke
Sweden
Ignacia Farias Luque
Venezuela
Emil Sitka
Ludwig
Jon Alvar
Fernando
Walter Rode
Kagenescu
Crew
Van Alexander
Music
Don Ament
Art Director
Jack Angel
Wardrobe
Gordon Avil
Director of Photography
Edwin Bryant
Film Editor
William Castle
Producer
Lambert Day
Sound
Joseph Di Bella
Makeup
Robert Dillon
Screenwriter
Otis L. Guernsey Jr.
Story
Dona Holloway
Associate Producer
William Kiernan
Set Decoration
Ben Lane
Makeup Supervisor
Lanz
Fashions
Sam Nelson
Assistant Director
Charles J. Rice
Sound Supervisor
Jack Roe
Assistant Director
Marjorie B. Wahl
Wardrobe
Videos
Movie Clip
Trailer
Promo
Film Details
Also Known As
The Candy Web
Genre
Adventure
Spy
Release Date
Jul
1963
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
William Castle Pictures
Distribution Company
Columbia Pictures
Country
United States
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 29m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color (Pathécolor)
Articles
13 Frightened Girls (1963) -
Never one to employ half measures, "King of the Gimmick" William Castle staged an international beauty contest to cast his espionage comedy 13 Frightened Girls! (1963). Forsaking the Gothic excesses of Macabre (1958), The House on Haunted Hill (1959), and The Tingler (1959), Castle and screenwriter Robert Dillon (who later penned the grueling French Connection II [1975]), working from an original story by film critic Otis L. Guernsey, Jr., camped onto the vogue for espionage films spawned by Eon Productions' James Bond franchise, starring Sean Connery. Set against the backdrop of several international capital cities (but filmed squarely on the Colombia Pictures backlot, with Lake Arrowhead doubling for Switzerland), 13 Frightened Girls! focuses on the Nancy Drew-like peregrinations of the teenage daughter (Kathy Dunn, from the Broadway run of The Sound of Music) of an American diplomat (Hugh Marlow), who becomes an amateur spy to salvage the career of foundering secret op Murray Hamilton (in Jack Lemmon mode). Getting a jump on TV's The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Castle's comedy alternates lighthearted intrigue with moments of unsettling violence (a body hung on a meat hook, a Soviet spy falling to his death Saboteur style) while introducing a bevy of international beauties, among them Judy Pace (Cotton Comes to Harlem, Brian's Song) and the late Alexandra Bastedo who, a decade later, would head the cast of the Euro-cult favorite The Blood Spattered Bride (1972).
By Richard Harland Smith
By Richard Harland Smith
13 Frightened Girls (1963) -
Never one to employ half measures, "King of the Gimmick" William Castle staged an international beauty contest to cast his espionage comedy 13 Frightened Girls! (1963). Forsaking the Gothic excesses of Macabre (1958), The House on Haunted Hill (1959), and The Tingler (1959), Castle and screenwriter Robert Dillon (who later penned the grueling French Connection II [1975]), working from an original story by film critic Otis L. Guernsey, Jr., camped onto the vogue for espionage films spawned by Eon Productions' James Bond franchise, starring Sean Connery. Set against the backdrop of several international capital cities (but filmed squarely on the Colombia Pictures backlot, with Lake Arrowhead doubling for Switzerland), 13 Frightened Girls! focuses on the Nancy Drew-like peregrinations of the teenage daughter (Kathy Dunn, from the Broadway run of The Sound of Music) of an American diplomat (Hugh Marlow), who becomes an amateur spy to salvage the career of foundering secret op Murray Hamilton (in Jack Lemmon mode). Getting a jump on TV's The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Castle's comedy alternates lighthearted intrigue with moments of unsettling violence (a body hung on a meat hook, a Soviet spy falling to his death Saboteur style) while introducing a bevy of international beauties, among them Judy Pace (Cotton Comes to Harlem, Brian's Song) and the late Alexandra Bastedo who, a decade later, would head the cast of the Euro-cult favorite The Blood Spattered Bride (1972).
By Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film is The Candy Web.
