The Secret Place | |
---|---|
Directed by | Clive Donner |
Written by | Linette Perry |
Produced by | John Bryan associate Anthony Perry |
Starring | Belinda Lee Ronald Lewis and Michael Brooke |
Cinematography | Ernest Steward |
Edited by | Peter Bezencenet |
Music by | Clifton Parker |
Production company | John Bryan Productions |
Distributed by | Rank |
Release date | 27 May 1957 |
Running time | 98 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Secret Place is a 1957 British crime film that was the directorial debut of Clive Donner. [1] It stars Belinda Lee, Ronald Lewis, and David McCallum in a supporting role. [2]
In this crime melodrama, set in a badly bombed district in the East End of London after the war, a gang carries out a diamond robbery and an adolescent boy, Freddie Haywood, discovers their loot hidden in his home. [2] [3]
Freddie has a crush on a kiosk attendant, Molly Wilson, who is engaged to Gerry Carter, a member of the gang. After the robbery, from a jeweller's in Hatton Garden, Gerry hides the diamonds inside Molly's record player. Not knowing this, Molly gives the player to Freddie as a thankyou gift. Freddie discovers the diamonds and the gang go after him. [4]
Clive Donner had been an editor on Genevieve, I am a Camera and other films. This was his first film as director. [5]
Filming took place at Pinewood Studios, starting in June 1956. [6] [7]
Anthony Steel was meant to play the male lead but he broke his contract with Rank and was replaced by Ronald Lewis. [8] The film also gave David McCallum his breakthrough role. [9]
Variety said "the East End setting among London’s bombed sites provides an intriguing background for this crime meller. But the story unspools too casually, dissipating too much of the potential tension.. As it stands, it's a modest b.o. bet. moderately entertaining." [10]
Lindsay Anderson, writing in the New Statesman called the opening sequence "the most exciting sequence seen on a (wide) screen in this country in the last five years" and said the film was "a remarkably assured and craftsmanlike start" for Donner's career. [11]
The Monthly Film Bulletin said the film "gains strongly over the average British crime thriller in its concern to establish a realistic background and setting. The East End locations are well chosen and freshly observed; the characters (apart from the two criminals, who seem rather unduly public school) quite convincingly inhabit this world of grey back streets and derelict bomb-sites. The balance between action sequences (the neatly-staged robbery and the final chase) and character study is well sustained, and Belinda Lee gives her best performance to date." [12]
The British Film Institute praised the "remarkable debut screenplay by Linette Perry, which manages to intertwine the generic conventions of the heist thriller with a simple, but poetic, moral drama. In Perry's world the secret places stretch beyond the physical – the record player, gang hideouts and derelict buildings – into the hearts of the young protagonists. Faced with opportunity and misguided by love, the characters are all confronted with their own buried selfishness." [13]
Filmink called it a "minor classic" and claimed that it the one film in Belinda Lee's career that comes close to cult status. [14]
Belinda Lee was an English actress.
Yield to the Night is a 1956 British crime drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Diana Dors. The film is based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Joan Henry. The storyline bears a superficial and coincidental resemblance to the Ruth Ellis case, which had occurred the previous year but subsequent to the release of Henry's novel. The film received much positive critical attention, particularly for the unexpectedly skilled acting of Dors, who had previously been cast solely as a British version of the typical "blonde bombshell". The movie was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival.
The Weak and the Wicked is a 1954 British drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson based on the autobiographical novel Who Lie in Gaol by his wife, Joan Henry, starring Glynis Johns and Diana Dors.
Dance Hall is a 1950 British drama film directed by Charles Crichton. The film was an unusual departure for Ealing Studios at the time, as it tells the story about four women and their romantic encounters from a female perspective.
Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary? is a 1953 British comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey. The film was based on Vivian Tidmarsh's 1944 West End hit play by the same name.
Nor the Moon by Night is a 1958 British drama film directed by Ken Annakin and starring Belinda Lee. It was based on the novel by Joy Packer and partly filmed in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. The title is a quote from the Old Testament passage ; "The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night."
Dancing with Crime is a 1947 British film noir film directed by John Paddy Carstairs, starring Richard Attenborough, Barry K. Barnes and Sheila Sim. It was shot at Southall Studios with sets designed by the art director Andrew Mazzei.
An Alligator Named Daisy is a 1955 British comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Donald Sinden, Jeannie Carson, James Robertson Justice, Diana Dors, Roland Culver and Stanley Holloway.
Eyewitness is a 1956 British thriller film directed by Muriel Box and starring Donald Sinden, Muriel Pavlow, Belinda Lee, Michael Craig, Nigel Stock and Richard Wattis. It was made by the Rank Organisation.
Diamond City is a 1949 British drama film directed by David MacDonald and starring David Farrar, Honor Blackman, Diana Dors and Niall MacGinnis.
Murder at Monte Carlo is a British 1934 mystery crime thriller film directed by Ralph Ince and starring Errol Flynn, Eve Gray, Paul Graetz and Molly Lamont, the production was Flynn's debut film in a lead role in England. The film is currently missing from the BFI National Archive, and is listed as one of the British Film Institute's "75 Most Wanted" lost films.
The Switch is a 1963 British crime drama film directed by Peter Maxwell and starring Anthony Steel, Zena Marshall and Conrad Phillips. The screenplay involves a criminal gang that smuggles watches into the country by hiding them in a petrol tank of a woman's car. It was Susan Shaw's last film.
Robbery Under Arms is a 1957 British crime film directed by Jack Lee and starring Peter Finch, Ronald Lewis, David McCallum, Laurence Naismith and Jill Ireland. It is based on the 1888 Australian novel Robbery Under Arms by Thomas Alexander Browne who wrote under the pseudonym Rolf Boldrewood.
Miracle in Soho is a 1957 British drama film directed by Julian Amyes and starring John Gregson, Belinda Lee and Cyril Cusack. The film depicts the lives of the inhabitants of a small street in Soho and the romance between a local road-builder and the daughter of Italian immigrants.
Life with the Lyons is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Val Guest and starring Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon and Barbara Lyon. It was a spin-off from the radio series Life with the Lyons, and the screenplay was based on previous episodes from the show. It was shot at Southall Studios in London with sets designed by the art director Wilfred Arnold.
Miss Tulip Stays the Night is a 1955 British comedy crime film directed by Leslie Arliss and starring Diana Dors, Patrick Holt, Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge. The screenplay concerns a crime writer and his wife who stay at a country house, where a mysterious corpse appears.
Wide Boy is a 1952 British crime film directed by Ken Hughes and starring Susan Shaw, Sydney Tafler and Ronald Howard.
My Wife's Lodger is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Dominic Roche, Olive Sloane and Leslie Dwyer. The screenplay concerns a who soldier returns home after the Second World War only to find a spiv lodger has established himself in his place. It was based on the play My Wife's Lodger written by Roche.
Penny and the Pownall Case is a 1948 British second feature mystery film, directed by Slim Hand and starring Ralph Michael, Peggy Evans, Diana Dors and Christopher Lee.
Meet Mr. Callaghan is a 1954 British crime drama film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Derrick De Marney. Based on the 1938 novel The Urgent Hangman by Peter Cheyney, which Cheyney had then turned into a play.