The Dark Man *½ (1951, Maxwell Reed, Edward Underdown, Natasha Parry, Barbara Murray, William Hartnell) – Classic Movie Review 13,002

Irish actor Maxwell Reed broods well as the ruthless killer in the 1951 British black and white film noir thriller film The Dark Man.

‘Set in one of Britain’s Forbidden Areas… this is one of the most fascinating films ever screened!’

Writer/ director Jeffrey Dell’s 1951 British black and white film noir thriller film The Dark Man is a fairly feeble, rather familiar British cop crime thriller about a mysterious murderer haunting a seaside resort who commits double murder.

Irish actor Maxwell Reed broods well as the ruthless Dark Man, but director Dell’s script is on the talky and implausible side.

Natasha Parry plays aspiring actress Molly Lester, the young woman who sees the murder and is targeted by the killer known as The Dark Man, while Edward Underdown plays Detective Inspector Viner of Scotland Yard, the police detective who falls for her, with Barbara Murray as Carol Burns and William Hartnell as Harry, the Superintendent of Police.

The Dark Man murders a petty criminal at a farmhouse in a lonely wood and shoots the taxi driver who drove him there. Molly was passing by on her bicycle and saw him only from a distance, but The Dark Man has to silence her for ever.

There are no special surprises in the writing and no particular imagination in the direction, but the story is interesting enough, Jeffrey Dell manages a tense, suspenseful atmosphere, the location work is good, and the talented and valiant actors try their hardest to give it a modicum of conviction. You can’t really quarrel with the cast, and I certainly wouldn’t want to,

Also in the cast are Cyril Smith, Geoffrey Summer, Leonard White, John Singer, Sam Kydd, Geoffrey Bond, Gerald Anderson, Betty Cooper, Robert Long, and Carol Oliver in her debut.

The play being performed in the film at the provincial Walsham Bay Repertory Theatre is Night Alone starring Hugo Bale, Molly Lester, John Flaxton and Carol Burns. This is a real 1930s play, also written by Jeffrey Dell, while Barbara Murray plays Carol Burns in this film.

It is shot on location at Hastings, East Sussex, England; and Camber Castle, Camber, East Sussex, England, and in the studio  at Merton Park Studios, London.

The Dark Man is directed by Jeffrey Dell, runs 91 minutes, is made by Independent Artists, is released by General Film Distributors (UK) and Fine Arts Films (US), is written by Jeffrey Dell, is shot in black and white by Eric Cross, is produced by Julian Wintle, and scored by Hubert Clifford.

Release date: 22 January 1951.

It must have made some money. Budget: £58,200, Box office: £90,000.

Maxwell Reed was married to Joan Collins (May 24, 1952 – May 29, 1956) (divorced), her first husband. She married him at age 19. They appeared together in appeared with her in The Square Ring (1953). He sued her for alimony at the divorce. Collins wrote in her biography that she was advised to settle for $10,000 and she had to get an advance on her studio salary at 20th Century Fox to pay it.

Reed was in the RAF as a pilot and the merchant navy as an ordinary seaman in WW2. He auditioned for the Rank Organisation and became part of their Company of Youth, though 27 at the time. He was considered a heartthrob in the day.

The cast are Edward Underdown as Detective Inspector Jack Viner, Maxwell Reed as The Dark Man, Natasha Parry as Molly Lester, William Hartnell as Superintendent of Police, Barbara Murray as Carol Burns, Cyril Smith as Samuel Denny, Leonard White as Detective Evans, Johnny Singer as The Adjutant, Geoffrey Sumner as Major, Sam Kydd as Sergeant Major, Geoffrey Bond as Walsham Police Sergeant, Gerald Andersen as Walsham Police Inspector, Betty Cooper as Carol’s Mother, Robert Long as Charles Burns, Grace Denbeigh-Russell as hotel proprietress, Norman Claridge as doctor, and John Hewer as taxi driver.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,002

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