Robert Flemyng

London Inspector Quennell [Peter Cushing] is investigating the deaths of several men found on the heaths. The only witness is said to be insane, raving about a huge creature with wings and horrible eyes, and all of the bodies have been drained of blood and badly scratched. Quennell wonders if the attacker might have been a large eagle and seeks out information from his old friend, Professor Karl Mallinger [Robert Flemyng], an entomologist at the university. Mallinger doubts that an eagle could be responsible for the deaths. What he fails to tell Quennell is that his experiments have transformed his daughter Clare [Wanda Ventham] into a giant, blood-sucking, death's-head moth. When the moth attacks Frederick Britewell [William Wilde], a naturalist just returned from Africa with numerous specimens of moths he has collected for Dr Mallinger, Quennell stumbles upon Britewell's dying body just in time to hear him mysteriously whisper "death's-head." Quennell also finds some peculiar scales around the body in the bushes. Dr Mallinger, who denies ever seeing Britewell before, agrees to try and identify the scales. Quennell returns home to pick up his daugher Meg [Vanessa Howard]. Upon their return, Quennell learns that Britewell was a guest of Dr Mallinger's. His suspicions arisen, Quennell rushes to Mallinger's house only to find the butler dead, several of the mysterious scales lying around, and the house closed up and vacated. After interviewing the maids, who tell him of Mallinger's sudden departure, Quennell learns that Mallinger has moved to the country and he and his daughter follow, taking rooms at a local inn. There, he meets Mr Warrender [John Paul] and his bug-collecting son William [David Griffin], both on a fishing holiday. Meg and William take a liking to each other, and Meg accompanies William on his bug-collecting trips, one of which takes him to the old Miles house, where Mallinger and his daughter have taken up residence and Mallinger is continuing his efforts to create another big death's-head moth as a mate for Clare. Unfortunately, galvanism hasn't worked to awaken the moth, so they hypnotize Meg and transfuse some of her blood into it. On one of his bug-collecting trips, William captures what he thinks is a death's-head moth. When Quennell hears the word "death's-head", he makes the connection to Britewell's dying words. When Warrender and William dredge up the body of Clem Withers [Simon Cain], the gardener at the old Miles house, Quennell puts two and two together. In the meantime, Mallinger has suddenly realized the evilness of his creations and destroyed the male moth. Enraged, Clare turns into mothform and kills her father. William takes his moth to get a confirmed identification from Mallinger, but he is attacked by Clare. Quennell builds a bonfire. Clare flies into it and is burned to a crisp. [Original synopsis by bj_kuehl.]

A British agent sets out to uncover the hidden facts behind a British government employee's suicide. After security officer Charles Dobbs has a friendly chat with Samuel Fennan from the Foreign Office, the man commits suicide. An anonymous typed letter had been received accusing Fennan of being a Communist during his days at Oxford and their chat while walking in the park was quite amiable. Senior officials want the whole thing swept under the rug and are pleased to leave it as a suicide. Dobbs isn't sure as there are a number of anomalies that simply can't be explained away. Dobbs is also having trouble at home: his beloved wife keeps having affairs. He's also pleased to see an old friend, Dieter Frey, whom he recruited after the war. With the assistance of a colleague and a retired policeman, Dobbs tries to piece together just who is the spy and who assassinated Fennan. —garykmcd

An impromptu fashion shoot at a book store brings about a new fashion model discovery in the shop clerk. Maggie Prescott, the Editor-in-Chief of New York based Quality, a fashion magazine that sets trends i.e. leads instead of follows, has come up with her latest brainchild: to feature a model to be the Quality Woman, complete with successful Paris-based designer Paul Duval to devise a new collection inspired by her. The Quality Woman is not only to embody beauty, but also intellect. Against Maggie's initial judgment, she relents to the vision of her head photographer Dick Avery in choosing Jo Stockton rather than one of their in-house models as the Quality Woman, Jo the clerk they met in an impromptu photo shoot they did against her will in the Greenwich Village bookstore where she works. The marks against Jo are not only that she isn't a professional, but that she has what she even considers a funny looking face, something that Dick instead calls interesting. Jo, who abhors all that the world of fashion represents in she being an intellectual, ultimately agrees as the job would take her to Paris where she hopes to meet her idol, Professor Émile Flostre, the leading philosopher on the concept of empathicalism. But in Paris, the two worlds for Jo begin to collide in more ways than one, arguably the most important in she falling for Dick, his actions solely to get her to exude the emotions he wants for the photos. —Huggo Fashion photographer Dick Avery, in search for an intellectual backdrop for an air-headed model, expropriates a Greenwich Village bookstore. When the photo session is over the store is left in a shambles, much to salesgirl Jo Stockton's dismay. Avery stays behind to help her clean up. Later, he examines the photos taken there and sees Jo in the background of one shot. He is intrigued by her unique appearance, as is Maggie Prescott, the editor of a leading fashion magazine. They offer Jo a modeling contract, which she reluctantly accepts only because it includes a trip to Paris. Eventually, her snobbish attitude toward the job softens, and Jo begins to enjoy the work and the company of her handsome photographer. —alfiehitchie