Never Take Sweets from a Stranger *** (1960, Gwen Watford, Patrick Allen, Felix Aylmer) – Classic Movie Review 6143

Director Cyril Frankel’s 1960 British mystery horror drama is taken from Roger Emerson Garis’s play The Pony Cart.

Gwen Watford and Patrick Allen star as English married couple Sally and Peter Carter, who start a new life with their young daughter Jean (Janina Faye) in a Canadian small town. Peter is the newly appointed school principal in the town.

There a venerable old pillar of the community, Clarence Olderberry (Felix Aylmer), is charged with impropriety towards the nine-year-old girl after Peter files a complaint.

The parents accuse him of paedophilia and get him taken into court, where they encounter opposition from the locals sympathetic to the 70-year-old patriarch.

Aylmer is outstanding in a difficult, wordless role, and the rest of the acting is excellent too.

This British-made exploitation film from Hammer Films does seem to capitalise on a very tricky, extremely sensitive subject, and has some obvious things to say too. However, it is still intelligent and compelling – and its heart is in the right place.

It is written by John Hunter, shot in black and white and MegaScope widescreen by Freddie Francis, produced by Michael Carreras, Anthony Hinds and Anthony Nelson-Keys, scored by Elizabeth Lutyens and designed by Bernard Robinson.

Also in the cast are Niall MacGinnis, Bill Nagy, Michael Gwynn, Alison Leggatt, MacDonald Parke, Frances Green, Estelle Brody, James Dyrenforth, Vera Cook, Budd Knapp, Hazel Jennings, Cal McCord, Gaylord Cavallaro, Sheila Robins, Michael Hammond, Larry O’Connor, Helen Horton, Shirley Butler, Patricia Marks and Peter Carlisle.

It was shot at Bray Studios, Berkshire, England, and at Black Park Country Park, Wexham, Buckinghamshire, England.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6143

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