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.

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.

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.

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.

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'.