Never Take Sweets from a Stranger (1960)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Cyril Frankel

Writers:

Roger Garis (play)
John Hunter (writer)

Release Date:

August 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Powerful! Shocking! Raw! Rough! Challenging! See a little girl molested!

Plot:

Jean Carter, nine-year-old daughter of the town's newly-appointed school principal, Peter Carter and his wife Sally...

Plot Keywords:

Trial | Rowboat | Courtroom | Child In Peril | Small Town

Cast

Gwen Watford	...	Sally Carter
Patrick Allen	...	Peter Carter
Felix Aylmer	...	Clarence Olderberry Sr.
Niall MacGinnis	...	Defense Counsel
Alison Leggatt	...	Martha
Bill Nagy	...	Clarence Jr
MacDonald Parke	...	Judge
Michael Gwynn	...	Prosecutor
Janina Faye	...	Jean Carter
Frances Green	...	Lucille
Estelle Brody	...	Eunice Kalliduke
James Dyrenforth	...	Dr. Stevens
Robert Arden	...	Tom Demarest
Vera Cook	...	Mrs. Demarest
Budd Knapp	...	Hammond

Also Known As:

Never Take Candy from a Stranger

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:X | Hungary:18 | USA:Unrated (certificate #19519 never issued) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Black Park Country Park, Wexham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Hammer Film Productions

Very suspenseful B-picture

I saw this on video as "Never Take Candy from a Stranger," under which title it was apparently released in the U.S. It was the one serious film produced by Hammer Films, famous for its Gothic horrors, and I found this much more suspenseful, as well as much better made, than the lot of them. It begins with small tensions of frustration and mild dislike among members of the academic community in a small town and gradually, subtly builds to an atmosphere of dread that catches in the throat. Every character, down to the bit parts, has something of interest to say, and what they say and do, and how their actions combine, lead step by step to the harrowing conclusion. The only fault is the over-simplicity of its social viewpoint, as expressed by the main character and justified by the events of the story, which are by no means unbelievable but not inevitable either. Apart from that, I thought it was a first-class B-picture, a small film in the good sense, compact and economical, with all its resources, human and otherwise, firmly in hand. Also, it has the grey photography that once used to give films of this type the aura they needed: the grey of rain and fog and dusk and uneasy feelings.