''Pit of Darkness'' is a 1961 British thriller film, directed by

Lance Comfort Lance Comfort (11 August 1908 – 25 August 1966) was an English film director. In a career spanning over 25 years, he became one of the most prolific film directors in Britain, though he never gained critical attention and remained on the ...

and starring

William Franklyn William Leo Franklyn (22 September 1925 – 31 October 2006) was a British actor, perhaps best known for voicing the "Schhh... You Know Who" adverts for Schweppes from 1965 to 1973. He also performed on stage, film, television and radio, t ...

and

Moira Redmond Moira Redmond (14 July 1928 – 16 March 2006) was an English actress. Biography She was born in Bognor Regis, Sussex, England. Her parents were actors and director managers, although she was also cared for by other relatives. Her grandfath ...

. The film is an amnesia thriller dealing with a man's attempts to piece together a sequence of strange events in which he seems to have been involved during the time of which he has no memory, based on the novel ''To Dusty Death'' by Hugh McCutcheon.

Plot

Safe-designer Richard Logan (Franklyn) awakens late one evening on a patch of suburban waste ground. He has no idea how he got there. He returns home to wife Julie (Redmond) to apologise for being late from work. He is astonished to learn that he has been missing not for a few hours, but for three weeks. Furthermore, a troubling series of events has occurred during his absence. A supposedly foolproof safe which he installed in a customer's home has been cracked open with apparent ease. Items taken include cash and a world-famous diamond from East Africa. Alarmed by Richard's disappearance, Julie had hired a private detective to find him, but the detective was later found dead. Richard must now find a way to penetrate the amnesia that prevents him from recalling recent events. After investigating, he becomes aware that he is trailed by a group of mysterious men who patronize a local nightclub called the Blue Baboon, which he and Julie decide to visit one evening. While there, in his confused mental state, Richard is constantly ceased by random and trivial occurrences – a snatch of a popular song or a conversational nuance – which inexplicably strike a chord within him. He experiences mental flashbacks so fleeting they are over as quickly as they begin. These and other events lead him to wonder if he may have been involved in criminal activity with some of the nightclub's regulars. Later, Richard is lured to a cottage in the countryside. He enters and hears the tick-tick-ticking of a bomb about to go off. He runs from the house, a split-second ahead of the shock waves that result from the explosion. It is this episode that appears finally to jolt his memory, and he believes he has discovered what has transpired during the past three weeks.

Cast

as Richard Logan *

as Julie Logan *

Leonard Sachs Leonard Meyer Sachs (26 September 1909 – 15 June 1990) was a South African-born British actor. Life and career Sachs was born in the town of Roodepoort, in the then Transvaal Colony, present day South Africa. He was Jewish. He emigrated to ...

as Clifton Conrad *

Bruno Barnabe Bruno Bianco Alberto G. G. Barnabe (3 April 1905 – 20 June 1998) was an English film and stage actor. He performed in the West End, on Broadway, and in Egypt, Australia and New Zealand. Biography Barnabe was born in St Giles, London o ...

as Bruno *

Nigel Green Nigel McGown Green (15 October 192415 May 1972) was an English character actor. Because of his strapping build, commanding height () and regimental demeanour he would often be found playing military types and men of action in such classic 1960s ...

as Jonathan *

Bruce Beeby Bruce Edward Beeby (21 October 1921 – 20 October 2013) was an Australian actor who worked primarily in British films and television. He was probably best known for portraying Stephen "Mitch" Mitchell in the 1950s BBC radio serials '' Journ ...

as Peter Mayhew * Anthony Booth as Ted Melia *

Nanette Newman Nanette Newman (born 29 May 1934) is an English actress and author. She appeared in nine films directed by her husband Bryan Forbes, including ''Séance on a Wet Afternoon'' (1964), ''The Whisperers'' (1967), '' Deadfall'' (1968), ''The Stepfor ...

as Mary *

Humphrey Lestocq Humphrey Lestocq (23 January 1919 – 29 January 1984) was a British actor, best known for his roles in '' Angels One Five'' (1952) and '' The Long Shadow'' (1961), and guest appearances in the television series '' The Avengers''. Lestocq s ...

as Bill Underwood * Jacqueline Jones as Mavis * Michael Balfour as Fisher * Ronnie Hall as the singer

External links

*
''Pit of Darkness''
at BFI Film & TV Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Pit Of Darkness 1961 films 1960s thriller films British thriller films Films directed by Lance Comfort British black-and-white films Films shot at Twickenham Film Studios Films set in London Films set in England 1960s English-language films 1960s British films