British musicologist Frances Ferris and her late teen niece Nicky Ferris are traveling through Crete recording Greek folk songs for the BBC. In the usually quiet coastal town of Aghios Georgios, they manage to get a room at an inn called the Moon-Spinners, despite the people at the inn being busy preparing for a wedding, and no one there, except Alexis, the young teen son of the proprietress Sophia, he who is fond of spouting current popular Americanisms in his slightly broken English, seeming to want them there. Frances and Nicky learn from Alexis that the unwelcoming feeling is all because of his maternal Uncle Stratos, who has become a man suspicious of anyone ever since his recent return from London after being away for fifteen years. Beyond those there for the wedding, the only other guest at the inn is a young Englishman named Mark Camford, who they befriend. Nicky is too preoccupied with her own suspicions and mistrust of Stratos truly to see that there is something more ...
Written by
Huggo
Plot Synopsis:
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Nicky Ferris and her aunt Frances are traveling on a bus to Crete. When they arrive at their hotel, the Moon Spinners, a village wedding is in progress. The proprietress, Sophia, did not receive the telegram Nicky sent to reserve a room. She says there are no rooms available. Nicky and Frances are exhausted and after Sophia's teenage son Alexis intervenes, she reluctantly gives them a room for the night. But her brother Stratos is furious. Since his return from England he has been acting strangely. He does not want guests staying at the hotel but promises Sophia that soon they will have all the money they want. Sophia is very suspicious of his dealings with what she calls a strange Englishman.

Nicky notices a young man in the crowd and learns he is also a guest. His name is Mark Camford and he is on holiday from England. He notices Stratos leaving and asks if he is going snorkeling in the Bay of Dolphins. This makes Stratos angry. Mark tells Nicky that he also likes to snorkel in the bay. They dance and enjoy the wedding festivities. Before saying goodnight, Mark asks Nicky to meet him the following day for a picnic.

Instead of going to bed, Mark returns to the Bay of Dolphins to spy on Stratos, who is in a boat. He does not notice that he has been followed. A fight ensues and Mark is shot. He dives into the water and disappears. Stratos and the other man assume he has drowned. Later, Stratos goes to Mark's hotel room and takes all his belongings.

The next morning, Nicky is puzzled when Mark doesn't show up for their picnic. Stratos tells her he checked out very early that morning. Not believing him, Nicky goes on a search. She finds Mark's shoe on the beach and traces him to a nearby church. He was shot in the arm but refuses to explain what is going on. Seeing that he needs medical treatment, Nicky covers him with her sweater and races back to the hotel, stopping first in Mark's room to bring him fresh clothing. But there is nothing there. She takes her aunt's traveling blanket and first aid kit, plus a bottle of brandy from the bar. Frances is listening to a group of native women singing and doesn't notice Nicky sneaking in and out.

Once Mark is attended to, he orders Nicky to leave but he still won't explain why Stratos is after him. Back at the hotel, Frances reports the loss of her blanket and first aid kit. Stratos realizes that Nicky must have taken them for Mark, which means the young man is not dead after all. He encounters Nicky in the village and she tries to steer him away from the church. But he goes there, forcibly taking her with him, and finds her blood-stained sweater.

As the day passes, Frances becomes worried when Nicky doesn't return. Stratos assures her that Nicky has probably gotten lost and will soon turn up. Alexis is riding his donkey near a windmill when he hears a cry for help. Stratos has tied Nicky to a post in the loft. Just then Mark turns up and they rescue her. But Stratos is not far behind and the pair set off for the next village to summon the police. On the way Mark tells Nicky his story. In London he worked at a bank but was fired after a client's jewels disappeared. He suspected Stratos, who fled the country soon after. Determined to clear his name, Mark followed him to Crete and the Bay of Dolphins. He is positive that the missing jewels are somewhere underwater.

Sophia suspects that her brother is involved in Nicky's disappearance. Once again he threatens her and hints that something might happen to Alexis if she doesn't keep her mouth shut. Frances is frantic and Stratos makes a point of organizing a search party for Nicky.

Stratos's friend catches up with Nicky and Mark. He is overpowered and knocked out, and now the pair have his shotgun. They decide to spend the night in some ruins. Stratos shows up but is spooked by the feral cats occupying the ruins. After a cursory search, he leaves.

The next morning, Nicky and Mark are awakened by an elderly man who turns out to be John Gamble, the British counsel. His explanation for being there, to observe the ruins at daybreak, sounds rather fishy. But Mark's injury needs medical treatment, so they agree to accompany him to his home. His wife Cynthia is a nurse and will be able to help Mark. Gamble persuades them to leave the shotgun behind. By the time they reach the consulate, Nicky has told Gamble all about Stratos. Gamble assures them they will be safe there. He will send a car for Frances and arrange for them to be flown to a hospital in Athens.

Cynthia takes them upstairs. Gamble goes into a room where Stratos is waiting. He is very angry at Stratos for bungling the operation and asks how he thought two British subjects could disappear without anyone noticing. Stratos mumbles a weak excuse but Gamble is through with him. He orders Stratos to return to the village and wait for further instructions.

After a bath and some food, Nicky is feeling much better. Cynthia brings her a dress to wear until her aunt arrives with their luggage. But she fears Mark's injury will become infected. She gave him some medicine and he is sleeping. Nicky goes downstairs and by using Gamble's telescope, observes a yacht on the water. Gamble turns her attention to something else, obviously trying to distract her. When Nicky finally sees Mark, he is very suspicious of the Gambles. He tells Nicky that the jewels cannot be sold on the open market, so Stratos will try to find a private buyer. Madam Habib is a wealthy eccentric who travels on a luxurious yacht. She collects jewels and Stratos will likely approach her. Nicky thinks the yacht she saw might belong to Madam Habib, which turns out to be true.

Mark believes that Cynthia has deliberately drugged him. He tries to get dressed but collapses. Frances arrives and Gamble sends them to the airport in a hearse, the only vehicle available because a street festival is going on. Frances is up front with the driver while Nicky and Mark are in the back. He is wearing street clothes under his pajamas and tells Nicky he is returning to the Bay of Dolphins. She follows him but can't keep up. He boards a bus and is gone.

Nicky steals a boat and goes out to the yacht. She is taken on board and tells her story to Madam Habib, who is very suspicious of her. Meanwhile, Stratos and his accomplice retrieve the jewels from an underwater container in the Bay of Dolphins. They escape in their boat just as the police, accompanied by Mark, arrive.

Madam Habib admits that she is expecting Stratos and forces Nicky to hide in a closet. Stratos arrives with the jewels, giving Madam Habib only a brief glance at them before demanding immediate payment. When she leaves to get the money, Nicky sneezes inside the closet. Stratos finds her and they struggle. Just then the police burst in and arrest Stratos. The jewels will be returned to their rightful owner and Mark's name is cleared.

Pola Negri had been retired for about twenty years when Walt Disney himself convinced her to come out of retirement to make this film. Studio executive and the film's co-producer, Bill Anderson, telephoned Negri at home in Texas, and convinced the veteran actress to read the screenplay, after going to Hollywood to negotiate the project.
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Despite good reviews, and Hayley Mills' popularity with young audiences at the time, the film failed at the box office. Rather than being re-issued in theaters, it was initially shown two years later, in three parts, on the Disney Sunday night TV show.
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The name of the pet cheetah that belonged to Madame Habib (Pola Negri) was "Shalimar".
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Actor Eli Wallach and actress Hayley Mills comprehensively discussed their work on this film with the late actress Pola Negri in the 2006 documentary Life Is a Dream in Cinema: Pola Negri (2006).
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The movie's MacGuffin was a collection of stolen emerald gemstone jewels.
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One of the most notable Hitchcockian style thriller scenes in the picture was the windmill suspense sequence. Alfred Hitchcock had previously directed one in 1940's Foreign Correspondent (1940) around a quarter of a century earlier.
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There are significant differences between the movie and the novel: in the book, Nikki Ferris arrives in Agios Georgios a day ahead of her aunt and finds Mark wounded in a hut on her way to the village. Mark has been shot by Sophia's husband, a collaborator with Stratos, who has stolen the Camford jewels in London from Mark, who was the courier. Another collaborator is the British gay man who is the hotel clerk - there is no British diplomat in the original story. Mark and his friend Lambis are trying to find Mark's teen-aged brother Colin. Nikki is OLDER in the book than in the film and a minor secretary for the British Embassy (an earlier trivia statement is incorrect here), Mark's last name is actually Langley, and Colin was actually the captive in the windmill. Beyond the title of the movie, there are few similarities between it and the book.
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The meaning and relevance of the film's "The Moon-Spinners" title is that it refers to a Cretan inn hotel owned by Sophia (Irene Papas) where Nikky (Hayley Mills) and Aunt Frances Ferris (Joan Greenwood) stay. In the movie, it is also referred by a character as being a Greek restaurant in Soho.
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At the time of filming, actress Joan Greenwood (Aunt Frances Ferris) was married to actor Andrè Morell (Yacht Captain).
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The film was made and released about two years after its source novel of the same name by Mary Stewart had been first published in 1962.
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The old Greek church seen in the movie was not authentic but a set construction built by the production for the picture.
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The film was broken up into three parts for screenings over three nights when the picture debuted on television.
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This feature film was distributed in the USA with the forty minute Disney support short Yellowstone Cubs (1963) which had previously been released as part of a double-feature bill with Disney's Savage Sam (1963).
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In the film's source novel of the same name by Mary Stewart the lead character of Nikky Ferris (Hayley Mills) travels alone but in this movie adaptation she is accompanied by her Aunt Frances Ferris (Joan Greenwood).
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Known for being a child star at the time actress Hayley Mills had actually turned eighteen years of age around the time that this picture was made and released.
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At a cost of US $5 million, this picture at the time was one of the Disney studio's most expensive live-action movie productions.
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Fifth of six films that the then young actress Hayley Mills made with the Walt Disney Pictures film studio.
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The pet big cat belonging to Madama Habib (Pola Negri) was originally supposed to be a domestic cat in the movie's original film script but at Negri's suggestion it was changed to a cheetah.
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This major motion picture's opening title card read: "The Island of Crete".
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The penultimate live-action film in which Walt Disney in his life-time was billed as a producer.
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Playing Madame Habib in this cinema movie, this was the first theatrical feature film of actress Pola Negri since she had portrayed Genya Smetana in Hi Diddle Diddle (1943), an interval of around twenty one years.
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In the book "The James Joyce Murder" by Amanda Cross, most of the cast go to a drive-in and see a movie which is obviously this film.
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This was the only film written by Michael Dyne, who regularly worked in television.
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This motion picture's television debut in 1966 was launched at a big lavish expense.
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The picture was filmed in the style of a Hitchcockian mystery-suspense movie directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
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Final theatrical feature film of Polish actress Pola Negri.
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The name of Madame Habib (Pola Negri)'s yacht was the "Minotaur".
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Nikky mentions visiting Athens and wishing they could stick the Acropolis back together. The Acropolis is the HILL the Parthenon is on---which is crumbling temple she'd like stuck back together.
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Nikky mentions she'll try the periscope out on the terrace. It's a telescope, not a periscope.
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When Nickie is trapped in the windmill it is late afternoon, yet when they cut away to the aunt at the Inn, it is dark out as if it were night. Then, when Stratos goes to the windmill in the scene after that, it is late afternoon again.
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In the subtitles for the Walt Disney Film Classics Hayley Mills Collection DVD, it says twice "leopard growls". The problem is, the cat is a cheetah, not a leopard.
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