The Black Rider | |
---|---|
Directed by | Wolf Rilla |
Written by | A.R. Rawlinson |
Based on | Marion by Peter Jones |
Produced by | A.R. Rawlinson |
Starring | Jimmy Hanley Rona Anderson Leslie Dwyer |
Cinematography | Geoffrey Faithfull |
Edited by | John Trumper |
Music by | Wilfred Burns |
Production company | Balblair Productions |
Distributed by | Butcher's Film Service |
Release date |
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Running time | 65 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Black Rider is a 1954 British crime thriller film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Jimmy Hanley, Rona Anderson, and Leslie Dwyer. [1] It was produced as a low budget second feature for release by Butcher's Film Service. It was shot at the Walton Studios near London. The film's sets were designed by the art director John Stoll.
In a small seaside town in Southern England Jerry Marsh, a young reporter and amateur motorcyclist, investigates sightings of a hooded black figure on a motorbike. It turns out that a gang of smugglers use a haunted castle as their base, deterring curious locals by pretending to be ghosts. [2]
Britmovie writes that the "plot is seemingly lifted almost intact from the pages of a Boys' Own adventure or the writings of children’s author Enid Blyton. ... Of particular note here is Lionel Jeffries ( The Revenge of Frankenstein 1958) as the villain of the piece. Although only in his late 20s, Jeffries already looks much older than his years and effortlessly brings to the role the gravitas it requires. ... Jeffries also succeeds in making A.R. Rawlinson’s mediocre dialogue sound far better than it actually is. ... This is a surprisingly stylish piece of filmmaking overall. Most importantly, [the director Wolf] Rilla succeeds in keeping the narrative moving at a brisk pace. At a time when low-budget British productions remained resolutely studio-bound, The Black Rider features a refreshing amount of exterior footage. Among the lengthiest sequences occurring outdoors is an obstacle course at a fete that takes on an almost newsreel-like quality." [3]
According to TV Guide , "the only thing discomfiting about this film is the poor direction and inept acting" (those are two things). [4]
Rona Anderson was a Scottish stage, film, and television actress. She appeared in TV series and on the stage and films throughout the 1950s. She appeared in the films Scrooge and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and on TV in Dr Finlay's Casebook and Dixon of Dock Green.
Lionel Charles Jeffries was an English actor, director, and screenwriter. He appeared primarily in films and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his role in The Spy with a Cold Nose.
Village of the Damned is a 1960 British science fiction horror film by Anglo-German director Wolf Rilla. The film is adapted from the novel The Midwich Cuckoos (1957) by John Wyndham. The lead role of Professor Gordon Zellaby was played by George Sanders.
Frankie Darro was an American actor and later in his career a stuntman. He began his career as a child actor in silent films, progressed to lead roles and co-starring roles in adventure, western, dramatic, and comedy films, and later became a character actor and voice-over artist. He is perhaps best known for his role as Lampwick, the unlucky boy who turns into a donkey in Walt Disney's second animated feature, Pinocchio (1940). In early credits, his last name was spelled Darrow.
Leslie Gilbert Dwyer was an English film and television actor.
Down and Dirty Duck, promoted under the abbreviated title Dirty Duck, is a 1974 American adult animated comedy film written and directed by Charles Swenson and starring Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan as the voices of a strait-laced, low-level white-collar worker named Willard and an unnamed duck, among other characters. The plot consists of a series of often abstract sequences, including plot material created by stars Kaylan, Volman, Robert Ridgely, and, according to the film's ending credits, various people Swenson encountered during the making of the film. It was the first animated movie to feature LGBT characters as leads. The film received mostly negative reviews.
Jimmy Hanley was an English actor who appeared in the popular Huggetts film series, and in ITV's most popular advertising magazine programme, Jim's Inn, from 1957 to 1963.
The Stranger Left No Card is a 1952 British short film directed by Wendy Toye and starring Alan Badel in his screen debut. It was adapted from the story of the same name by Sidney Carroll.
Man with the Steel Whip is a 1954 Republic Western serial film. It uses considerable stock footage from the previous Republic serials "Zorro's Black Whip", "The Painted Stallion" and "Daredevils of the West."
The Gentle Sex is a 1943 British black-and-white romantic comedy-drama war film, directed by Leslie Howard and Maurice Elvey and narrated by Howard. It was produced by Concanen Productions, Two Cities Films, and Derrick de Marney. It was Howard's last film before his death.
The Battle at Elderbush Gulch is a 1913 American silent Western film directed by D. W. Griffith and featuring Mae Marsh, Lillian Gish, and Alfred Paget.
Curtain Up is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Ralph Smart and starring Robert Morley, Margaret Rutherford and Kay Kendall. Written by Jack Davies and Michael Pertwee it is based on the play On Monday Next by Philip King. It was shot at Isleworth Studios in London with the exterior of the nearby Richmond Theatre standing in for that of Drossmouth. The film's sets were designed by the art director Geoffrey Drake.
Clive Stanley Donner was a British film director who was part of the British New Wave, directing films such as The Caretaker, Nothing but the Best, What's New Pussycat?, and Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush. He also directed television movies and commercials through the mid-1990s.
Edward Dean Jeffries was an American custom car designer and fabricator, as well as stuntman and stunt coordinator for motion pictures and television programs based in Los Angeles, California.
Frank Harris was an American film director, producer, and cinematographer who has been working in films since the late 1970s. His work as a director includes Killpoint in 1984, Low Blow and The Patriot in 1986, If We Knew Then in 1987 and Lockdown in 1990. He originally worked as a television reporter.
Doctor at Large is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Ralph Thomas starring Dirk Bogarde, Muriel Pavlow, Donald Sinden, James Robertson Justice and Shirley Eaton. It is the third of the seven films in the Doctor series, and is based on the 1955 novel of the same title by Richard Gordon.
Wolf Peter Rilla was a film director and writer of German background, who worked mainly in the United Kingdom.
Home to Danger is a 1951 British second feature film noir crime film directed by Terence Fisher starring Guy Rolfe, Rona Anderson and Stanley Baker.
Night Ride is a 1937 black and white British drama film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Julian Vedey, Wally Patch and Jimmy Hanley.