Kill Her Gently

"Martin" (Griffith Jones) is driving home one evening when he picks up two hikers. Once in his car, he realises that they are those wanted by police having just escaped from prison. They don't know he knows, and so are rather taken aback by his proposal. He will give them money and a path out of the country - if they agree to murder his wife "Kay" (Maureen Connell). The more brutal of the two - "Connors" (Marc Lawrence) readily agrees and his sidekick "Sven" (George Mikell) is soon on board as they arrive at his home where he concocts a plan to get their money whilst they do the deed. Of course, things don't quite go to plan - the police are looking for the escapees and his wife isn't quite the shrinking violet type. Is she toast or will they manage to get away with it? The premiss is quite interesting by virtue of the supposed spontaneity of the plan. Sadly, though, once they are all housebound the plot starts to unravel and there is just a bit too much hysteria as "Connors" decides killing is not the only crime he wants to get up to. The last ten minutes do have a certain vindication to them, but by then the thing had largely run out of steam. Though I did quite enjoy this, the narrative could have been better focussed around a cast of competent B-listers who do their jobs adequately in a feature that had more potential.

Thus was it described by Chibnall & McFarlane in 'The British 'B' Film' in 2009. The evidently tiny budget actually enhances this raw little hostage drama which begins like Edgar Ulmer's 'Detour' (1945) with Griffith Jones giving a lift to two desperadoes. Not surprisingly the film was released only after delays and cuts.

One of the hitch-hikers is played by one of Hollywood's meanest-looking heavies ever, the ferrity-faced Marc Lawrence; who back in America himself later directed the similar 'Nightmare in the Sun'.

Continuing the Escalation of the Film-Noir Tradition of Psychopathic, Mentally-Wounded, and Insanity Personified of "Killers" that Peaked with Hitchcock's "Psycho" along with Michael Powell's "Peeping Tom", both from 1960.

This "Hidden Gem", of the Film-Noir Genre, Stars Ultra-Prolific Character Actor (over 200 credits) Marc Lawrence, with a Face Only a Mother and a Casting-Agent Could Love.

The Pock-Marked Marc was Most-Effective Playing Gangsters, Stooges, with a Born-for-Noir Look and Style, Much Like Timothy Carey.

The Low-Budget, Necessitating Confinement Works its "Charms" Generating Suspenseful Thrills with Edgy Code-Busting Antagonism on Viewers.

With Visions of Cinema-Trends Starting but Not-Yet Fully Realized that would Continue Terrifying Audiences in a Modernization of "Monsters" that Brought "Horrors" to the Screen Unlike Any Mythological "Frankenstein" or "Dracula' Never Could with Realizations that this Could, and Often Does, Really Happen.

Effective, Energetic Performance from Lawrence, and a Subtle Out-of-Control, but Totally In-Control Villainous Character, Played by Griffin Jones, a Husband who has Lost-His-Mind and is Delusional About His Wife's Betrayal, and Wants Her Murdered, as the Movie is Saturated with Crazy-Characters Acting Out Crazed Anti-Social Behavior Next-Door Attached to the Every-Day.

Another Entry in "The Movies" Escalation of the Wild, Off-Beat, Crime-Riddled Exploration and Exploitation of Abnormal Psychology and the Dark-Side Behavior of the Human Condition that Unsettles and Hits Close-to-Home...Too Close to Home for Comfort...that Makes for a Public that is Fascinated, and Buy Tickets.

I guess the only reason this movie is not a well-beloved classic is that it was not made in Hollywood, is filmed in black-and-white, came from a minor studio and is full of unknowns. I also don't understand why so many people who watched its TCM debut rated it so low. It is definitely the best movie I saw during their entire "detectives" month.

The film starts out with Connors, an American, and Svenson, a Swede, escaping from prison. They are picked up hitchhiking by Jeff Martin. They become suspicious, though, when Martin gets them through a police roadblock, covering for them by claiming they are some friends of his that he has brought back from London to the rural area where the story transpires.

It turns out Martin has plans for them. He makes a bargain with them to help them flee the country if they will assist him in his scheme. Otherwise, he will turn them in. They have little choice, and agree to go along with his plan before they even know what it is.

But everything goes wrong with Martin's plan from the start. Bad breaks follow unfortunate coincidences in one unexpected plot twist after another, starting from the moment they get back to Martin's house and running all the way down to the penultimate scene.

Eventually it comes out that Martin has a past, and when the escaped cons discover it, this creates another rift in the deteriorating trio.

Both of the "bad guys" are really not so bad. Svenson especially is quite human, a rather sympathetic character. Of course, in spite of their increasing lack of enthusiasm for Martin's plan, the two of them have lived by the sword, and so are liable for the consequences. But each of them manages to achieve a small measure of redemption.

Nothing is wasted in this movie. The plot unfolds with mounting tension at a rapid pace. Every moment in this rather short film is calculated, crafted, a necessary piece in the tension that is developed by a skillful combination of plot and direction. Hitchcock rarely did it better, and often did it worse.

Even the final scene keeps in character with the movie, and does not fall into the mawkishness which would have been so easy, but rather ends up on a rather dark and somewhat ambiguous note.

The building tension in this movie achieves what few movies ever have been able to do to me ("Lady In A Cage," "Dial M For Murder" and "Midnight Lace" spring to mind), keeping me riveted to the screen, and almost uncomfortable, squirming in my chair as I wait for the inevitable, which, in the greatest Hitchockian manner, does not come, but is whipped away by a surprising plot twist.

Excellent suspense! Masterfully executed!

In 1957's Kill Her Gently, Connors (Marc Lawrence) and Svenson (George Mikell), an American and a Swede, escape from prison and are picked up by a man, Jeff Martin (Griffith Jones) on his way home. He knows who they are and tells the police blockade that they are two friends.

The escapees don't quite understand why he's being so nice, until he offers them 1000 pounds to kill his wife. In exchange, he offers to get them out of the country that night.

The men put on an act of treating both Jeff and wife Kay (Maureen Connell) as hostages.

Turns out that the true looney-tunes in this group is Jeff. Kay cheated on him with the doctor who had him committed. Well, he doesn't seem to have fully recovered.

Kay is the one with the money, but when the monthly deposit hasn't yet arrived, tensions grow, and Jeff needs to sell his car. He's arranged for them to leave by evening, but they're not going anywhere without the money.

Eventually bodies start piling up in this violent and misogynistic film. Director Charles Saunders keeps the tension going. The American and British cast was for a wider distribution of the film. Marc Lawrence seems to be the biggest name, living in Europe due to being blacklisted.