UK, 1969
99m, 8,939ft
35mm film, Technicolor, 1.77:1
mono, English
Reviewed at The EOFFTV Review
A British psychological horror film directed by Robert Fuest.
Plot Summary
Cathy and Jane, two young English nurses, are on a cycling holiday in France. They have an argument and Jane leaves Cathy sunbathing on the edge of a wood near the road. When she later goes back for her, Cathy has vanished and the locals are full of worrying stories about a murder that took place at the very spot some time before. As the day goes on and nightfall approaches, Jane is unsure of who she can trust…
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Robert Fuest
© Associated British Productions Ltd. MCMLXX [1970]
EMI/Associated British Productions present
Produced by: Albert Fennell, Brian Clemens
Original Story and Screenplay: Brian Clemens & Terry Nation
Director of Photography: Ian Wilson
Editor: Ann Chegwidden
Music: Laurie Johnson
Sound by: Bill Rowe
Wardrobe: Roy Ponting
Make-Up: Gerry Fletcher
Hairdresser: Allan McKeown
Set Designed by: Phillip Harrison
Cast
Pamela Franklin (Jane)
Michele Dotrice (Cathy)
Sandor Elès (Paul)
John Nettleton (gendarme)
Clare Kelly (schoolmistress)
Hana-Maria Pravda (Madame Lassal)
John Franklyn (old man)
Claude Bertrand (Lassal)
Jean Carmet (Renier)
Alternative Titles
De repente, la oscuridad – Spanish title
Ennen hämärää – Finnish title
Il mostro della strada di campagna – Italian title
Tödliche Ferien – German title
Links
Remake
And Soon the Darkness (2010)
Press
Marjorie Bilbow, writing in the 26 June 1970 issue of Today's Cinema wasn't keen: “It is disappointing to see an excellent idea with the potent quality of probability (and performed by such a talented cast) allowed to sag into a cliché-ridden plot as full of holes as a tea strainer,” she wrote. “Tightly and plausibly scripted until the moment of the unseen murder, the remainder gives the impression of having been flung together without regard for logic or the ability of the audience to see beyond the ends of their noses or to recognise the smell of a red herring. Interest and true suspense die with Cathy, who has all the best lines anyway.”
References
Periodicals
- Board of Trade Journal vol.199 no.3824 (1 July 1970) p.15 – note (Registrations of British and foreign films)
- Fangoria no.213 (June 2002) p.12 – note
- Filmfacts vol.14 no.15 (1971) p.363 – reprinted reviews
- Films and Filming vol.16 no.12 (September 1970) p.70 – review
- Flesh and Blood no.2 p.17 – illustrated credits, synopsis, review
- Halls of Horror no.27 p.16 – note
- Kine Weekly vol.633 no.3262 (18 April 1970) p.(UK) – note (Production: Clemens plans by Rod Cooper)
- Kine Weekly no.3271 (20 June 1970) p.19 – review
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.37 no.439 (August 1970) p.162 – credits, synopsis, review
- Radio Times 12-18 August 1989 p.13 – review
- Today's Cinema no.9715 (25 August 1969) p.4 – credits
- Today's Cinema no.9817 (26 June 1970) p.8 – credits, review (The new films by Marjorie Bilbow)
- Variety 22 July 1970 p.20 – credits, review
Books
- Chopped Meat: British Horror of the 1970s by Darrell Buxton p.unpaginated – note
- Chopped Meat: British Horror of the 1970s by Eric McNaughton and Darrell Buxton (eds.) pp.8-9 – illustrated review (by Mark Morris)
- English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby pp.113, 217, 377
- Horror and Science Fiction Films: A Checklist by Donald C. Willis p.24 – credits
- Elliot's Guide to Films on Video by John Elliot p.27 – credits, review
- Kine & TV Year Book 1971 p.105 – credits
- Serial Killer Cinema: An Analytical Filmography by Robert Cettl p.38 – credits, syopsis, review
- Ten Years of Terror: British Horror Films of the 1970s by Harvey Fenton and David Flint (eds) p.12 – illustrated credits, review (by David Flint)
- Unsung Horrors by Eric McNaughton & Darrell Buxton (eds) pp.20-22 – illustrated review (by Ian Taylor)
