The structured social life of the town falls apart, the letters bear a local postmark so no-one is above suspicion but the main brunt of ill feeling falls on "the Foreigner", Connie (Catherine Lacey), a shy Welsh girl, who seems completely bewildered.
The Reverend Rider (Reginald Tate) and his sister Mary (Robson) are at their wit's end as they attempt to pour cold water on the mounting hysteria by urging villagers to ignore what is just a malicious desire to stir up trouble but even Rider's daughter Ann (Ann Todd) becomes a target with lewd suggestions linking her to a man, not her fiancée. Respectable townspeople find themselves having to defend their lives when they are accused of sexual and criminal misconduct.
A little English village's peace is shattered when a series of anonymous letters start being delivered to various homes concerning terrible allegations about the recipients and their nearest and dearest.
But even though it was a B production it had everything going for it from a novel by Richard Llewellyn (soon to hit pay dirt with his "How Green Was My Valley"), sustained tension and pace and a magnificent cast including the incomparable Robert Newton. Flora Robson gave everything she had, especially in the last ten minutes, for what was essentially a British "quota quickie".
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