Turn the Key Softly *** (1953, Yvonne Mitchell, Terence Morgan, Joan Collins, Kathleen Harrison) – Classic Movie Review 10,549

Director Jack Lee’s ambitious and compelling 1953 black and white British crime drama Turn the Key Softly stars Yvonne Mitchell, Joan Collins and Kathleen Harrison as three women in trouble getting used to their lives on their first day and evening of freedom after they are released from prison.

Monica Marsden (Mitchell), Stella Jarvis (Collins) and Granny Quilliam (Harrison) are released together from London’s Holloway women’s prison on the same day and have a difficult time adjusting to the straight and narrow. Crook’s moll Monica (Mitchell) and call-girl Stella (Collins) are soon almost tempted back on their respective games, while tragic old lady Granny (Harrison), a good-natured shoplifter, fares much, much worse. After a day of going their separate ways, they meet up for a meal in London’s West End in the evening.

Director and co-writer Lee’s sudsy and overwrought script is over-directed by him too, but the film’s characters are memorable and the actors are up for it. The stars give stalwart performances and a good, old British cast headed by Terence Morgan, Thora Hird, Dorothy Alison, Glyn Houston, Geoffrey Keen, Russell Waters and  Clive Morton support gamely.

Time has been kind to it, giving it period allure and nostalgia value to join the charm and interest aroused by the actors and the haunting London filming.

The script by Jack Lee and the producer Maurice Cowan is based on the 1952 novel by John Brophy.

It was shot on location in London as well as at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England.

The Coach and Horses pub, seen in the final scene, became famous on as the meeting place for Private Eye. Collins is seen outside a cinema where The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) is playing. Holloway Prison, Yew Tree Road in Shepherds Bush, Portland Road in Notting Hill, Piccadilly Circus and London’s West End are seen, with trolleybuses, rationing, butcher’s shops and Brylcreem ads, with all the flavour of the bustle and rationing of the austerity post-war Fifties.

Also in the cast are Terence Morgan as David, Thora Hird as Mrs Rowan, Dorothy Alison as Joan, Glyn Houston as Bob, Geoffrey Keen as Mr Gregory, Russell Waters as George Jenkins, Clive Morton as Walters, Richard Massingham as Bystander, Hilda Fenemore as Mrs Quilliam’s Daughter, Fred Griffiths as Newspaper Seller, Simone Silva as Marie and Toke Townley as Prison Officer.

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V09aONiFG-g

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,549

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