Pit of Darkness ** (1961, William Franklyn, Moira Redmond, Leonard Sachs, Nigel Green) – Classic Movie Review 13,044

The successfully contrived 1961 British amnesia thriller supporting film Pit of Darkness stars William Franklyn and Moira Redmond, with Leonard Sachs, Nigel Green and Bruno Barnabe.

Director Lance Comfort’s successfully contrived 1961 British amnesia thriller supporting film Pit of Darkness stars William Franklyn and Moira Redmond, with Leonard Sachs, Nigel Green and Bruno Barnabe. It is shot in black and white and runs 76 minutes, ideal for a British B-film of the era.

Moira Redmond stars as Julie Logan, who tries to get her safe-maker amnesiac husband Richard Logan (William Franklyn), who has woken up on an East London bombsite after being missing for three weeks, to remember how a jewel heist happened. She gets him to retrace his steps and finds out that in the lost time he designed the safe targeted by thieves who conned him into helping them.

Pit of Darkness is an artificial and rather inconsequential, dark-toned B-movie mystery, written and made with some imagination but without the oxygen of truth or reality, based on Hugh McCutcheon’s 1960 novel called To Dusty Death.

But it is well acted by Franklyn, Redmond, Leonard Sachs and Nigel Green (enjoying showier roles than they usually got) and fairly adroitly handled by Comfort, who has three jobs as producer, director and writer. He never really makes you believe this could happen but entertains you with the story anyway. It is swift, energetic, and above all professional. Not at all bad for a British B-film of the era.

The Dave Clark Five appear in the nightclub run by Conrad. It makes you feel glad all over.

There is some West London location shooting, and it is shot in the studio at Twickenham Studios, England.

The cast are William Franklyn as Richard Logan, Moira Redmond as Julie Logan, Leonard Sachs as Clifton Conrad, Bruno Barnabe as Bruno, Nigel Green as Jonathan, Bruce Beeby as Peter Mayhew, Anthony Booth as Ted Melis, Nanette Newman as Mary, Humphrey Lestocq as Bill Underwood, Jacqueline Jones as Mavis, Michael Balfour as Fisher, and Ronnie Hall as the singer.

Pit of Darkness is directed by Lance Comfort, runs 76 minutes, is made by Butcher’s Film Service, is released by Butcher’s Film Distributors, is written by Lance Comfort, is shot in black and white by Basil Emmott, is produced by Lance Comfort, and is scored by Martin Slavin.

Release date: October 1961 (UK).

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,044

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