The Quiet Woman ** (1951, Derek Bond, Jane Hylton, Dora Bryan, Michael Balfour) – Classic Movie Review 13,147

The 1951 British crime drama B film The Quiet Woman is a tale of liquor smuggling and an escaped convict, set on the edge of bleak Romney Marsh, and stars Derek Bond, Jane Hylton and Dora Bryan.

Director John Gilling’s 1951 British crime drama B film The Quiet Woman is set in the bleak, sparsely populated Romney Marsh wetland area of Kent in south-east England, and is based on a story by Ruth Adam. It stars Derek Bond, Jane Hylton and Dora Bryan.

Derek Bond stars as a handsome smuggler, artist and former naval officer Duncan McLeod, Duncan McLeod, a gentleman artist and former Naval officer, who smuggles contraband liquor between France and Britain across the English Channel, assisted by crewman Lefty Brown (Michael Balfour).

They store the liquor at The Quiet Woman pub in a coastal town on the edge of Romney Marsh in Kent, But the pub has been taken over by Jane Foster and her friend Elsie Tripp (Dora Bryan). Jane demands the smugglers remove their contraband liquor elsewhere, but Duncan and Lefty court Jane and Elsie. Duncan doesn’t know that Jane is married to criminal Jim Cranshaw (Harry Towb), who is serving jail time. Soon Cranshaw escapes from jail, arrives at the pub and demands that Jane hide him and get Duncan to transport him to France.

Jane Hylton, Derek Bond, Dora Bryan and Michael Balfour are ideally cast and give strong performances, giving a lift to this routine, but quite well-made B-movie production with a rather limp screenplay by director Gilling, slightly struggling to carve out something memorable from the story by Ruth Adam. Jane Hylton is especially good, quite impressive. And the film is helped greatly by its extensive East Sussex location shooting, with studio work at Alliance Studios, Twickenham, Middlesex, England.

The Star Inn, Norman’s Bay, East Sussex, stands in for The Quiet Woman pub.

Dora Bryan replaced Diana Dors after a dispute with the director.

Romney Marsh covers about 100 square miles and has been used for centuries, especially by smugglers between the 17th and 19th centuries because of its location, geography and isolation.

The Quiet Woman is directed by John Gilling, runs 71 minutes, is made by Tempean Films, is released by Eros Films, is written by John Gilling, is shot in black and white by Monty Berman and E Besche, is produced by Robert Baker and Monty Berman, and is scored by John Lanchbery.

The cast are Derek Bond as Duncan McLeod, Jane Hylton as Jane Foster, Dora Bryan as Elsie Tripp, Michael Balfour as Lefty Brown, Dianne Foster as Helen, Harry Towb as Jim Cranshaw, John Horsley as Bromley, and Campbell Singer.

Film debuts of Dianne Foster and Harry Towb.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,147

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com