Kill Her Gently

Two escaping convicts hitch a ride with someone who may be more disturbed than either of them. Griffith Jones is well cast as a cool, mannered and devious husband with emotional baggage to spare with Maureen Connell as his well-meaning and unfortunate spouse.

As one previous reviewer has noted, this is quite a brutal film in its sometimes violent treatment of both male and female characters. The film quality as seen on the estimable TPTV was far from perfect but didn't detract from the pace of the narrative. Although the casting of an American and a European as the escapees was obviously intended to attract a wider global audience, the latter role (George Mikel) was underwritten; the plaudits for the film mainly go to Marc Lawrence, who I had only really previously known in his roles in Diamonds Are Forever ("I didn't know that there was a pool down there "), and The Man with the Golden Gun.

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.

Kill Her Gently is a sub Hitchcockian British B thriller starring American Marc Lawrence who had escaped to Europe after being blacklisted for his political views in the 1950s.

Two convicts break out of prison. Connors is an American and Svenson is a Swede. While on the run they are picked up by a motorist, Martin who realises who they are but helps them pass a police road block. Martin makes the a proposition to the fugitive. He will help them leave the country if in return they will kill his wife.

It looks like Martin is more deranged than the convicts who has suffered a mental breakdown for which his wife had him sectioned and who also thinks she might be having an affair.

Most of the film is set in the couple's home as Martin initially comes across as a victim with his wife. However the convicts become reluctant carrying out his task especially Svenson.

This is a tight, short thriller but with a very rushed ending. Marc Lawrence impresses as a tough guy with a looming conscious. Griffith Jones is also memorable as the conniving, cunning and desperate husband who wants to punish his wife for having him incarcerated.

This is one of those tight, moody British crime thrillers of the 50s, one which just about lives up to its great title. Despite being set in a rural/suburban setting, the proceedings are imbued with the post-war brutality and seediness common to the genre, not to mention plenty of misogyny and xenophobia.

The plot keeps moving and the atmospheric and psychological details are piled up at an equal pace, making this compelling viewing. Perhaps most telling is that the cultivated British middle class citizen proves far nastier than the "greasy" foreign criminals. The ending is a bit abrupt (possibly due to censorship or a cut TV print), but otherwise it plays all the angles perfectly. Marc Lawrence seems to have had a knack for finding neat little productions like this in which to participate.

If you like this one, try "Man in the Back Seat", too.