OVER the years, several movies have been filmed on the Island.

These include That'll Be The Day, Something To Hide, Endless Night, Victoria and Abdul and Fragile.

A much rarer film, the thriller I Met A Murderer, starring James Mason, was shot here in 1939.

This has recently been shown twice on the Talking Pictures TV channel.

The final exciting police chase was filmed in Whale Chine, near Atherfield, and other shots were taken at various Island locations.

Very little is known about this movie, which was also released in America.

Luckily, when the late Military Road farmer Sylvia Jones made the first of her five appearances on my IW Radio show John Hannam Meets, she could clearly remember much more than anyone else.

It was a very low budget movie and starred James Mason, Pamela Kellino, who later became Mrs James Mason, Sylvia Coleridge, William Devlin and a very young Esma Cannon, who later found fame in The Rag Trade.

James Mason, who went on the become a huge Hollywood star, stayed at Chine Farm, Atherfield, owned by Sylvia's parents, in a caravan he borrowed from famous actor Robert Donat.

With little money available for production costs, they borrowed her father's black Ford V8 to use for the police car, their farm caravan, an important part of the story, and even some horses for the final scenes.

When the movie was completed, James Mason, who also co-wrote the story, and the crew invited some locals involved with the production, including Sylvia and her parents, for a special late night screening at the Regent Cinema, Freshwater.

They queued to go in as the audience from the last showing of the normal film came out.

The movie is likely to be seen again in the coming months on the Talking Pictures channel.