The Secret Place

The Secret Place is directed by Clive Donner and written by Linette Perry. It stars Belinda Lee, Ronald Lewis, Michael Brooke, Michael Gwynn, Geoffrey Keen and David McCallum. Music is by Clifton Parker and cinematography by Ernest Steward,

Little seen and heard of piece of British noir, The Secret Place sits somewhere in between good and frustrating. Plot involves London crooks enacting a gems robbery and finding themselves at the mercy of an adolescent boy and his secret place.

First and foremost the pluses here far outweigh the negatives. The cast list is a veritable roll call of British actors who need no introduction to fans of British film and TV. The cinematography on show is perpetually film noir in look, where cinematographer Steward (The 39 Steps/Payroll) fills 90% of the pic with monochrome menace and dark cloaked actions. The robbery at the center of the tale is suspenseful and has a cheeky glint in its eye, and with the cast on form - bolstered by an excellent child acting turn from Brooke, production value from London locales is bang on the money.

However, the pacing of the pic is an issue, where as much as you want some depth to characterisations, the back and forward expansion of the key players takes up the bulk of the running time. It's also sad to report that the finale just fizzles out as a damp squib, almost as if the Hays Code was still in force and thriving in Britain! Is there still enough to keep this above average? Yes, definitely, but it's not a hidden gem by any stretch of the imagination. 6/10

Despite its b-film status, this is really quite a good film. It works well as a traditional caper movie, with fine scenes of suspense, but it stands out especially for the cinematic tension created between Belinda Lee's character and the little boy, to me as fine an example of pure cinema as I've seen, the kind of thing one might otherwise find in an Ingmar Bergman movie. This is a paradigm example of suspense, as we wonder if the Lee's character can make psychological contact with the boy, as the boy moves further apart from her. The bland close-ups on the boy work for the film, since we can never read what is going on in his mind as we wait to see if he will reconcile with the woman or not. Also noteworthy is the ambivalent ending, when one might otherwise expect a more conventional reunion, as far as I can go without revealing a spoiler.

Nearly fifty years before four elderly criminals took on Hatton Garden a couple of young whippersnappers were attempting to loot the place to the tune of the potentially life-changing sum of £60,000; a tidy enough sum even today!

Clive Donner made an auspicious debut as a director with this meandering but gripping drama vividly shot against a backdrop of a postwar London of bombsites and building sites, both by day and night.

A beautiful young woman named Molly (Belinda Lee) begrudgingly gets involved with her brother Mike (David McCallum) in a diamond heist, meticulously planned by a small-time crook (Ronald Lewis). It's super risky, involving the impersonation of police, but amazingly, they get away with it. Sadly, a boy named Freddie (Michael Brooke), who has a crush on Molly, also becomes involved without his knowledge, and now he's in danger too.

This one features shades of The Window, which is a good thing. It's not on par with that one for various reasons, but still very enjoyable, with some good surprises. The story is engaging, adding layers that keep interest high, especially when Freddie's little brother finds something he shouldn't have, which sets off an entirely new, somewhat amusing chain of events.

All the performances were enjoyable, but Michael Brooke was the real revelation here. He did a fine job in the last of eight roles in his short career. (I also saw him in X the Unknown, but it wouldn't have been significant to me at the time)

I was very pleasantly surprised with this one. Recommended!

Robbery story aside, this film is wonderful in its portrayal of children's lives in the lost world of grimy post-war Britain. A place where 3 year-olds could be allowed to play, unsupervised on bomb-sites amid rusting abandoned cars and ruined buildings. Where "dens" and "camps" could be built and secret places discovered. One priceless scene in this environment is where Freddy's younger brother, having discovered a large diamond, immediately swaps it with another child for a penny. She in turn swaps it with another child and it goes on until it changes hands at the astronomical price of one shilling and three pence (seven and a half p) . Reminded me very much of my own childhood during this period, where swaps were the order of the day. The perceived value of an item often being greater or less than its actual value, depending upon the individuals involved in the deal. The follow up in the story is an amusing sequence where the Police have to backtrack the deals, questioning the tight-lipped kids, in order to find the diamonds's origin. Love watching these films. I am always puzzled by the apparent age of kids parents. Freddy is about fifteen. At his age my parents were 36, but his parents look ancient. Belinda Lee, who plays Molly, was 22 at the time, but her mother (Gretchen Franklin) has the appearance of an old age pensioner! Maybe its just their clothes? In American films of the era it's even worse. With grey-haired dowagers parenting 10 year-olds!