Black Memory (1947) User Reviews

Underrated British crime movie; dark but never dreary

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 18 October 2016]

BLACK MEMORY is a cheap British crime film written by John Gilling, later to dominate the B-movie genre of film-making in the 1950s. This one's a little cheaper, a little darker, and a little more dated than most British crime films of the era, but it's certainly not a bad film and it doesn't deserve the low rating it has accrued on this site.

The plot is a straightforward one about a boy whose father is arrested and later hanged for murder. He grows up into something of a tearaway and arrives back in his old town looking for a job. Once there, he discovers that the circumstances surrounding the historical murder are rather murky, and local gangster Michael Medwin is somehow involved.

What follows is a film with a bit of everything; a heist plays a big part in the proceedings and there are the usual tropes of the genre elsewhere. However, it's quite serviceable, and it does have a very short running time which means that it's never dull. I did find that the main characters were a little young to be convincing. Michael Atkinson as the lead is saddled with a deathly dull character although Michael Medwin is much better in an early turn as the villain. Sid James plays in his first film and is a sorrowful supporting character. Jane Arden steals the show as a would-be femme fatale.

"I'm one of the lucky ones, I don't have a soul."

[rupertcook · 5/10 · 17 July 2017]

Michael Medwin, later to feature in Shoestring some thirty years later, plays a young thug, rather in the mould of Pinkie from Brighton Rock. He has the meatiest role in this efficient, if not particularly tense, thriller. Jane Arden, soaked in sass, plays his moll, and brings off a spirited performance. There is even a slight suggestion that the pair spent the night together, rather risqué for its time.

Sid James features in his first film looking, as ever, craggy and plays the part of a cowardly cafe owner.

Micheal Atkinson plays Danny, a rather colourless youth, who we are meant to cheer on but never was justice in its human form so dull though by the end of the film he has found a suitable personality.

All in all it passes the time in a not unpleasant way.

"Straight as a ruddy corkscrew"

[hwg1957-102-265704 · 6/10 · 15 August 2018]

Danny Cruff is taken to an approved school after his father is hanged for murder. He escapes from the school and years later goes back to the street where he lived still haunted by the 'black memory' of what happened to his father. It's not a bad film at all. There is a dark undertow to the film that can easily be missed but it is there in John Gilling's well written dialogue. Some of the cinematography has a good noir feel.

It would have been better if Danny Cruff had been played by a stronger actor as Michael Atkinson is rather bland. Good performances are given though by top billed Michael Medwin as gangster Johnnie Fletcher, Sidney James in his debut film as the put upon cafe owner Eddie and Jane Arden as the gangster's girlfriend who is manipulated. A movie that deserves a better rating.

The First Film Of Sid James

[malcolmgsw · 2/10 · 29 August 2013]

This film does have some historical significance in that it was the first screen appearance in the UK of Sid James.He looks quite young here with all of his hair and not a wrinkle in sight.This film was made at the small film studios in Bushey,which when they closed in 1983 were the oldest operating film studios in the world.There are a number of problems in watching this film.Firstly the picture is quite dark at times,secondly you only learn what is happening after the event and thirdly the sound reverberates.Anyway as best as I could follow it,Michael Atkinson's father was wrongly convicted for murder and executed.Atkinson is sent to a boarding school but is bullied so badly that he runs away.The film then fast forwards 10 years.Atkinson works in a clothing factory along side Michael Medwin who was one of the bullies.Medwin tries to rob the factory.In the course of the robbery he is half strangled into a confession that he was responsible for the wrong conviction.The police happen to be on the scene to hear the confession.It is a real struggle to work out what is happening.It is only of interest to viewers of noir and Sid James completists.

Jane Arden Was a Sparkling Discovery!!

[kidboots · 7/10 · 23 January 2019]

Bushey was a minor studio known for it's bargain basement programmers and "Black Memory" featured many new faces. The plot centred on Danny Cruff, returning to his home town under an assumed name but he can't escape the black memory of his childhood. His father had been hanged for a murder he was innocent of. Danny was picked on by the local bully and then sent to an approved school. By chance his arrival coincides with the return of the bully Johnny (Michael Medwin, who really seems to relish his role) who is feared by everyone and as a reviewer said, is a small time Pinkie in the making.

For me the most promising talent was Jane Arden - she is Sally, the more vivacious of the two sisters. She instantly starts a flirtation with Danny and even sasses the glum old caretaker in the clothing factory where they all eventually end up working. She spells danger though - she's Johnny's girl, a little toughie, who is swept along on the path to delinquency with promises of getting away from the mundane and poverty.

This is a pretty good little movie (not really helped by Michael Atkinson as the deadly Danny but it was only his first movie). There's not only a "solving the memory" mystery but also a pretty good attempt at a "young punks running wild" solution to the new post war problem of juvenile delinquency. Probably more noteworthy today as Sydney James' movie debut - he's not the Syd of later times but a scared cafe owner under the spell of Johnny.

It was shot during one of the coldest winters ever recorded - so the scene at the local ice rink at Cricklewood would not have been appreciated by the players.

In the Bleak Midwinter

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 7 December 2020]

Sydney (as he was then billed) James must have wondered just what he'd let himself in for when he arrived in London from South Africa to find himself within days shivering on a soundstage at Bushey Film Studios in the middle of the harshest winter to hit Britain in living memory (unlikely ever to be repeated thank to global warming).

The hero lends his girlfriend a crucifix for safe keeping in this very poor man's 'Brighton Rock' - atmospherically lit by S.D.Onions - which concludes with the words 'The End' accompanied by the shadow of a hangman's noose.

Or not memory at all for the viewer...

[searchanddestroy-1 · 14 April 2013]

I saw it only a few minutes ago and almost forgot it...I ain't joking. A film from UK, written by John Gilling, I remember this, OK, but that's all. What the hell is going with me?

A British movie from the late forties as I usually avoid at all costs. But I tried with this one, just too see. I remember this too, I am so glad. That means that I will not become like Rita Hayworth in a close future...Alzheimer disease. See what I mean?..

But I don't remember the story of this movie. Oh yes, it was talkative, boring, boring...And so naive...

Sorry folks, that's all I can remember. But maybe it is a fantastic movie...Who knows...

Well, enough joke. A forgettable feature, so common, nothing special. Only for rare stuff seekers only. Fanatic ones like me.