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''And Soon the Darkness'' is a 1970 British
thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
directed by
Robert Fuest Robert Fuest (30 September 1927 – 21 March 2012) was an English film director, screenwriter, and production designer who worked mostly in the horror, fantasy and suspense genres. Biography Born in London, Fuest served his national ser ...
and starring
Pamela Franklin Pamela Franklin (born 3 February 1950) is a British former actress. She is best known for her role in the film '' The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'' (1969), for which she won a NBR Award and received a BAFTA Award nomination. Franklin made her a ...
,
Michele Dotrice Michele Dotrice (born 27 September 1948) is an English actress. She portrayed Betty Spencer, the long-suffering wife of Frank Spencer, portrayed by Michael Crawford, in the BBC sitcom ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'', which ran from 1973 to 1978, ...
and
Sandor Elès József Sándor Éles (15 June 1936 – 10 September 2002), sometimes credited simply as Sándor Éles, was a Hungarian actor. He was best known latterly for TV and film work. Born in Tatabánya, 60 km from Budapest, Éles was orphaned dur ...
. The plot follows two British nurses on a cycling holiday in rural France; during their trip, one of them vanishes, and the other struggles to search for her in a rural community. It was the first movie made under
Bryan Forbes Bryan Forbes CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2013 an ...
at EMI Elstree to be released (''
Hoffman Hoffman is a surname of German and Jewish origin. The original meaning in medieval times was "steward", i.e. one who manages the property of another. In English and other European languages, including Yiddish and Dutch, the name can also be spelle ...
'' had been produced first but was released later).


Plot

Jane and Cathy are two young nurses from
Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
who are taking a cycling holiday through rural
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. While having lunch at a busy restaurant, Cathy notices a handsome man drinking alone at an adjacent table. Shortly after the women depart, the man also leaves the cafe on a Lambretta scooter. On a country road surrounded by farmland, the women are passed by the man on his scooter. Several minutes later, the women pass by him as he rests by a cemetery. As the women pass through a small village, they encounter the man again. Cathy, who has grown tired of cycling, decides she wants to sunbathe, and stops at a wooded area along the road. Jane agrees to rest momentarily, but the two women get into an argument over the trip itinerary, and Jane decides to continue on alone. Jane soon arrives at a rural roadside cafe, where the proprietor, Madame Lassal, warns her that the area is dangerous and that she should not be travelling alone. Meanwhile, Cathy, still sunbathing, becomes unnerved and senses she is being watched. Upon trying to leave, she finds that someone has destroyed the wheel of her bicycle. Moments later, she is confronted by an unseen assailant. Feeling guilty over leaving Cathy behind, Jane returns to the spot where she was sunbathing. She finds no sign of Cathy, apart from her camera lying in the grass. Moments later, the man the women saw earlier at the restaurant stops along the road on his scooter. He introduces himself as Paul, and Jane explains to him that she is looking for Cathy. Paul offers Jane a ride back to the village, where she believes Cathy may have gone. While questioning locals in town, Jane learns of an unsolved rape and murder of a young woman that occurred in the town the year before. Meanwhile, Paul rides into the woods on his scooter to search for Cathy. Jane encounters a British schoolmistress in town who drives her part-way to meet the
gendarme Wrong info! --> A gendarmerie () is a military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to "Man-at-arms, men-at-arms" ...
and report Cathy's disappearance. En route, the schoolmistress tells Jane the unsolved murder occurred in the same wooded area from which Cathy vanished. Unable to locate the gendarme, Jane returns to the roadside cafe and asks Madam Lassal for help, but she again urges Jane to leave the area. Jane again encounters Paul, who reveals he is a private investigator who researched the case of the murdered woman. The two get into an argument when Jane discovers Paul has taken the film from Cathy's camera as evidence. Convinced he has hurt Cathy, Jane parts ways with him. Running through the town on foot, Jane finally locates the residence of the gendarme, and explains what has occurred. The gendarme goes to investigate the scene, leaving Jane alone at his residence. Paul arrives at the house, but Jane refuses to open the door. When he breaks into the gendarme's home, Jane flees into the woods, where she stumbles upon an abandoned
trailer park A trailer park,caravan park, mobile home park, mobile home community or manufactured home community is a temporary or permanent area for mobile homes and travel trailers. Advantages include low cost compared to other housing, and quick and eas ...
. While hiding in a camper, Jane finds Cathy's corpse. Paul manages to corner Jane in the woods, but she beats him in the face with a rock. At the edge of the abandoned trailer park, Jane finds the gendarme. As she embraces him, the gendarme begins to fondle her sexually. He begins to attack her, revealing himself to be the perpetrator. Jane attempts to fend him off, and is rescued by an injured Paul, who hits the gendarme with a large branch.


Cast

*
Pamela Franklin Pamela Franklin (born 3 February 1950) is a British former actress. She is best known for her role in the film '' The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie'' (1969), for which she won a NBR Award and received a BAFTA Award nomination. Franklin made her a ...
as Jane *
Michele Dotrice Michele Dotrice (born 27 September 1948) is an English actress. She portrayed Betty Spencer, the long-suffering wife of Frank Spencer, portrayed by Michael Crawford, in the BBC sitcom ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'', which ran from 1973 to 1978, ...
as Cathy *
Sandor Elès József Sándor Éles (15 June 1936 – 10 September 2002), sometimes credited simply as Sándor Éles, was a Hungarian actor. He was best known latterly for TV and film work. Born in Tatabánya, 60 km from Budapest, Éles was orphaned dur ...
as Paul * John Nettleton as Gendarme *
Clare Kelly Clare Kelly (25 February 1922 – 18 February 2001) was an English actress who worked primarily in television. She was known for roles in films such as ''Georgy Girl'' (1966), '' And Soon the Darkness'' (1970), '' The Fourth Protocol'' (1987). TV ...
as Schoolmistress *
Hana Maria Pravda Hana Maria Pravda (, Becková; after first marriage, Munk; after second marriage, Pravda; 29 January 1916, Prague − 22 May 2008, Oxford) was a Czech actress. Biography Hana Becková was born in Prague, 29 January 1916. She trained in Leningrad ...
as Madame Lassal *John Franklyn as Old Man * Claude Bertrand as Lassal *
Jean Carmet Jean Carmet (25 April 1920 – 20 April 1994) was a French actor. Life and career Jean Carmet began working on stage and then in film in the early 1940s becoming a very popular comedic actor in his native country. He is best known internatio ...
as Reiner *
André Maranne André Maranne (14 May 1926 – 12 April 2021) was a French-English actor best known for playing roles in English-language films beginning in the mid-1950s. Life and career Born André Gaston Maillol in Toulouse, France, Maranne's best known r ...
as Radio DJ (Uncredited)


Background and production

One of the first films made under
Bryan Forbes Bryan Forbes CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2007. Retrieved 9 May 2013 an ...
at EMI Elstree, it was shot entirely in France. The film was directed by
Robert Fuest Robert Fuest (30 September 1927 – 21 March 2012) was an English film director, screenwriter, and production designer who worked mostly in the horror, fantasy and suspense genres. Biography Born in London, Fuest served his national ser ...
, and made by the same production team as '' The Avengers'' television series. The screenplay was written by
Brian Clemens Brian Horace Clemens (30 July 1931 – 10 January 2015) was an English screenwriter and television producer, possibly best known for his work on '' The Avengers'' and '' The Professionals''. Clemens claimed to be related to Mark Twain (Samuel ...
and
Terry Nation Terence Joseph Nation (8 August 19309 March 1997) was a British screenwriter and novelist. Especially known for his work in British television science fiction, he created the Daleks and Davros for ''Doctor Who'', as well as the series '' Survivo ...
, both of whom had contributed to ''The Avengers'', as well as to several ITC crime series. It was also scored by ''Avengers'' theme composer
Laurie Johnson Laurence Reginald Ward Johnson, (born 7 February 1927) is an English composer and bandleader who has written scores for dozens of film and television series and has been one of the most highly regarded arrangers of instrumental pop and swing ...
. Clemens was involved in producing and storyboarding the film, and said it inspired him to try directing. He later commented, "My business partner (Albert Fennell) said 'You should have directed it' and suddenly I thought 'Yeah, perhaps I should have done'. I knew I could have directed it better." He wrote what became '' See No Evil'' for Forbes at EMI; after Forbes left the company the film was made at Columbia. Clemens eventually turned director with '' Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter''.


Release


Reception

The film did moderately well at the box-office on both sides of the Atlantic, but was not a big success. In 1971, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' reviewer stated: "Until the disappearance and for a while afterward everything goes very well toward building tension with understated effects. But eventually, by mere repetition, the understated effects begin to look like poverty of the imagination. Then terror becomes a function of gratuitous camera technique, and danger the product of dishonest characterization." ''Halliwell's Film Guide'' comments: "Slow, overstretched, often risible suspender ... long on red herrings and short on humour, but with some pretension to style." '' Time Out'' described it as an " appealing women-in-peril thriller" which is " edictable, implausible, and not a little nasty." In contrast, the film was listed seventh in the ''
Cinefantastique ''Cinefantastique'' is an American horror, fantasy, and science fiction film magazine. History The magazine originally started as a mimeographed fanzine in 1967, then relaunched as a glossy, offset printed quarterly in 1970 by publisher/editor ...
''s list of the top ten sci-fi/horror films of the 1970s. Frederick S. Clarke, the magazine's editor, called it "a lady-in-distress picture that for suspense tops anything of its kind."


DVD release

The film was released as a DVD in the US with an audio commentary by Fuest and Clemens, and released in the UK as a region 2 DVD at the end of January 2008.


Remake

An
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
remake of the film was released in 2010.AFM '09: First Look at 'And Soon the Darkness' Remake
/ref>


References


External links

* *
''And Soon the Darkness''
at Britmovie. {{DEFAULTSORT:And Soon The Darkness 1970 films British thriller films 1970s psychological thriller films Films shot at Associated British Studios Films directed by Robert Fuest Films about missing people Films scored by Laurie Johnson Films set in France Films with screenplays by Terry Nation EMI Films films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films