There are a stack of good reasons for watching this movie: an extraordinary performance by the young Hayley Mills, in her first film; a solid storyline; deft direction by J. Lee Thompson; interesting Welsh locations; striking black and white photography; and a beautiful editing job. All good reasons. But the best reason, for me, is that the film depicts a warm, surprising relationship between a young man and a pre-teen girl, strangers until a chance meeting, that is not clouded or cloyed by hysterical and ugly suppositions of impropriety. It is hard to imagine this subject-matter being treated with such directness and vitality in a movie made today. The available DVD contains a brilliant transfer and fascinating commentary by Hayley Mills recorded in 2004. She has a lot to say about her co-star, the German actor, Horst Buchholz, who is terrific in the firm, and about working alongside John Mills, her father, who plays the investigating detective with his usual aplomb.
