And Soon the Darkness (1971)

Truly Dreadful Film

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Jane and Cathy, British student nurses on holiday in the French countryside, take a break from bicycling on a dull stretch of road because Cathy, having eyed a gentleman in the previous village, wants to rest (and give him a chance to catch up). The more pragmatic Jane wants to reach the next town before nightfall and decides to head out on her own. Mystery story from screenwriters Brian Clemens and Terry Nation might either be called a compact thriller or a very unimaginative one--it literally goes nowhere but back and forth from town to the woods, into the woods and back out again. The usually-volatile Pamela Franklin has a rather benign role this time; she's curious unfettered upon discovering her friend has disappeared, courteous and polite to the strangers she tries to make conversation with, and not a very good detective or judge of character. The language barrier is a problem with a picture like this: Franklin must keep explaining everything we already know to the French villagers (potential suspects and wayward eccentrics) and we're not sure if they understand her or maybe just think she's insane (and vice-versa). The picture isn't a horror movie--there's hardly any blood shown--and director Robert Fuest guides it along with a sure hand, but it becomes repetitive. Franklin's Jane goes back to search for her friend, she gets a ride into town, she waits for her ride to come back, she hitches a ride back to the woods, she retrieves her bicycle, and then she goes on to the next town. It isn't an exciting film, nor an important one, but it does have an abundance of atmosphere and has been been produced in a very classy manner. The finale is underwhelming. The case does get solved, yet there are a lot of unanswered questions left in the movie's wake, as well as the feeling that Fuest did his very best to enliven this scenario without a lot of help from his writers. Remade in 2010. ** from ****

Friends Pamela Franklin (Jane) and Michele Dotrice (Cathy) are on a cycling holiday in rural France when they fall out. Dotrice is fed up with Franklin's strict timetable and decides to stay on and sunbathe at the edge of some wooded land alongside a road whilst Franklin continues on to the next village. She gets to a secluded café and hangs out there for a while before going back down the road for her friend. When she arrives at the wooded area, Dotrice is nowhere to be found. The film follows Franklin as she tries to find her friend. There aren't many options open to her as the landscape is one long road. You go one way…..or you go the other way….and nobody has seen Dotrice.This film is filled with tension and is pretty scary. I found myself thinking how easily this incident could actually happen. Where is her friend? Once we meet the rest of the sparse cast, we doubt everyone and are clueless as to who to trust. Even though we know that Michele Dotrice must be around somewhere because she later gets together with Frank Spencer (Mmmm…….Betty..) in British sitcom madness "Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em", we definitely fear the worst for her.The cast do a good job – both lead girls deliver their dialogue realistically, especially to each other as they fall out. I found out after watching the film that Pamela Franklin played "Flora" in my favourite ghost film "The Innocents" (1961). Wow – never even crossed my mind that it was her! The only character flaw comes with the mysterious Sandor Elès (Paul) who keeps suspiciously appearing. That's not the problem – it's his manner for the end sequence which is unrealistic. He shouldn't be acting like that. But, it keeps the tension going right up to the film's end. I'd like to say that I guessed correctly, but I was never 100% sure! No gore in this, thank goodness, but a few scares and a creepy atmosphere.

Two attractive, young English nurses, Jane and Cathy (Pamela Franklin and Michele Dotrice), ignore common sense and ill-advisedly pop on their tightest pairs of shorts for a cycling holiday through France, taking only the most rural roads available. When the girls quarrel, Cathy preferring to sunbathe than to cycle, Jane goes off alone, leaving her friend to soak up the sun. Eventually, Jane returns to the spot where she left Cathy, but finds that her friend has completely disappeared. Worried for Cathy's safety, she tries to find help, but can she trust any of the people that she meets?The pairing of lovely Michele Dotrice (Betty from Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em) and gorgeous Pamela Franklin make this film a treat as it is, but with a superb script from top TV scribes Brian Clemens (The Avengers) and Terry Nation (Dr. Who), and taut direction from Robert Fuest, who employs an effective slow-burn approach to gradually ramp up the tension, And Soon The Darkness proves to be a very stylish, atmospheric and chilling women-in-peril movie.Despite its relaxed pace and lack of exploitative elements (there's no nudity or gore) the film is a thoroughly entertaining experience, gripping and suspenseful throughout: red herrings abound and there are multiple suspects, all of whom act suspiciously. The remote French countryside is used to great effect, cinematographer Ian Wilson capturing a palpable sense of foreboding and menace in the lonely landscape, despite the whole film taking place in bright sunlight. The language barrier adds another level of tension, Jane's inability to fully grasp what is being said to her creating several extremely uncomfortable moments (and with no subtitles, we the viewer are left equally unsure as to precisely what is happening).Fuest does, perhaps, leave it a tad too long before concluding matters, but with a lead as appealing as Franklin, its not too much of a chore to hang on in there till the very end.

Writers Brian Clemens & Terry Nation and director Robert Fuest prove that this kind of movie need not take place at night in order to be scary. This is about as good as a daytime suspense flick could be. Pamela Franklin and Michele Dotrice play young nurses on vacation in France who are riding their bicycles through the country. Things go very bad when, after a fight, Franklin pedals off and leaves Dotrice on her own, after which Dotrice disappears from sight. A stranger (Sandor Eles) offers to help Franklin, but she'll have her doubts about him, just as she will about most other characters. It's a bold move for the filmmakers to have no subtitles for the French dialogue, and it works in important ways: it stresses Franklin's vulnerability and frustration, and ensures that we in the audience are *not* two steps ahead of her the entire time. The desolate rural locations, while beautiful in their way, also help to create that sense of helplessness. There are long distances between towns, and the fields seem to go on forever. Laurie Johnson's music is used sparingly, and other than a bouncy main title theme that doesn't seem appropriate for a film of this type, it helps to set the mood. That said, Fuest, Clemens, and company know when the movie is in no need for music, as a key suspense sequence takes place largely in silence. The tension here is palpable; in fact, after something of a slow start, things just get creepier and creepier and poor Franklin, who's absolutely winning in the role of the desperate young protagonist, comes to feel that she may not be able to trust anyone. One particularly great moment has Franklin conversing with a roadside café proprietress (Hana Maria Pravda), who manages to find the two correct English words for what she means to say, "bad road", and when she utters these words it sends chills up the spine; we then know that this area is fraught with danger. We find out that there'd already been a murder some years ago. Good supporting performances by John Nettleton as the Gendarme, Clare Kelly as the schoolmistress, and Pravda greatly aid in the telling of this story, which delivers a nail biting climax and which in the end has a cyclical quality. It's good stuff, and worthy of discovery or rediscovery. Seven out of 10.