Don’t Talk to Strange Men *** (1962, Christina Gregg, Janina Faye, Cyril Raymond) – Classic Movie Review 8476

Director Pat Jackson’s taut, tense and tight little 1962 black and white British thriller Don’t Talk to Strange Men tackles the theme of a child talking with a stranger and phone terror. It stars Christina Gregg as sweet countryside schoolgirl Jean Painter, who ignores the advice of the title and sets up a blind date with a decidedly creepy stranger over the phone while a serial killer is on the loose.

The man speaks to her in a nearby phone booth while she waits for a bus home in her bar’s local quiet country lane and answers the ringing phone. She likes his voice ans soon becomes infatuated. Then soon she and her younger sister Ann (Janina Faye) are in mortal danger.

There are no real shocks, but it is eerie and creepy, and both Gwen Cherrell’s screenplay and Jackson’s direction help to keep it dynamic and suspenseful. It really makes excellent use of its very short 65 minutes running time, turning brevity and low budget into advantages.

It co-stars Cyril Raymond, Conrad Phillips, Dandy Nichols, Gillian Lind, Janina Faye, Gwen Nelson, Robin Hunter, Jack Sharp and Bernadette Woodman.

It was shot at Marylebone Film Studios and on location in Buckinghamshire. It cost just £21,690 to make.

Don’t Talk to Strange Men is directed by Pat Jackson, runs 65 minutes, is made by Derick Williams Productions, is released by Bryanston, is written by Gwen Cherrell (original story and screenplay), is shot in black and white by Stephen Dade, is produced by Derick Williams, is scored by Hubert Clifford (uncredited composer of stock music), Robert Farnon (uncredited composer of stock music) and Charles Williams (uncredited composer of stock music), and is designed by Brian Herbert.

Leicester born Gwen Cherrell (born 12 March 1926) is an actress with 60 credits, mainly TV. Don’t Talk to Strange Men is her only screenplay, though she also wrote five TV episodes.

Cyril Raymond, who plays the girls’ over-protective father Mr Painter, is most famous as the husband in Brief Encounter. The scene where the Painter sisters talk near the cinema is shot in Beaconsfield New Town, Buckinghamshire, on the opposite side of the same road where Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard talk outside the newsagents WH Smith’s in Brief Encounter.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8476

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