''Tread Softly Stranger'' is a 1958 British crime drama directed by Gordon Parry and starring

Diana Dors Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren. Dors was p ...

, George Baker and

Terence Morgan Terence Ivor Grant Morgan (8 December 1921 – 25 August 2005) was an English actor in theatre, cinema and television. He played many "villain" roles in British film but is probably best remembered for his starring role in the TV historical ...

. The film was shot in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

in film noir style, and its setting in an industrial town in northern England mirrors the

kitchen sink realism Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama) is a British cultural movement that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, film and television plays, whose protagonists usually could be described as "angry young men" w ...

movement coming into vogue in English drama and film at the time. The screenplay was adapted from the stage play ''Blind Alley'' (1953) by

Jack Popplewell Jack Popplewell (22 March 1909 – 16 November 1996) was an English writer and playwright. Life Popplewell was born and grew up in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire. He published his first song in 1940, and his first play, ''Blind Alley'' was sta ...

Plot

The action takes place in the Yorkshire steel town of Rawmarsh/Parkgate –

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

was used for the extensive location filming – to which native son Johnny Mansell ( George Baker) has fled after racking up large gambling debts in London. Johnny moves into a cramped flat with his brother Dave (

), a clerk in a local steel mill, and Dave's girlfriend Calico (

), a hostess in a local nightclub. Calico comes up with a plan for the brothers to rob the payroll at Dave's workplace to steal enough money to cover Dave's fraud and Johnny's debts.

Cast

Production

Dors made the film after starring in a number of movies in the US. It was shot at Walton Studios in

Walton-on-Thames Walton-on-Thames, locally known as Walton, is a market town on the south bank of the Thames in the Elmbridge borough of Surrey, England. Walton forms part of the Greater London built-up area, within the KT postcode and is served by a wide ran ...

Reception

''Tread Softly Stranger'' did reasonable business at the box-office on its original release but received little critical attention, being seen as a typical crime

potboiler A potboiler or pot-boiler is a novel, Play (theatre), play, opera, film, or other creative work of dubious literary or artistic merit, whose main purpose was to pay for the creator's daily expenses—thus the imagery of "boil the pot", which means ...

which would be watched once and then forgotten. Its reputation was upgraded in later decades, with critics finding much to admire, particularly the cinematography by

Douglas Slocombe Ralph Douglas Vladimir SlocombeDuncan Petrie, "Slocombe, (Ralph) Douglas Vladimir (1913–2016)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Jan 202available online Retrieved 8 July 2020. OBE, BSC, ASC, GBCT (10 Feb ...

with its authentic feel of everyday life in a steel town of the era. The main incongruity in the film is cited as the noticeable lack of

Yorkshire accent The Yorkshire dialect (also known as Broad Yorkshire, Tyke, Yorkie or Yorkshire English) is a dialect of English, or continuum of dialects, spoken in the Yorkshire region of Northern England. The dialect has roots in Old English and is influe ...

s in characters who were supposedly born and brought up in the area. It is also questionable whether a town such as Rawborough in the 1950s would have been the venue for a nightclub of the type in which Calico is employed, a far cry from the working men's club it purports to be. The eponymous theme tune was sung by

Jim Dale Jim Dale (born James Smith; 15 August 1935) is an English actor, composer, director, narrator, singer and songwriter. In the United Kingdom he is known as a pop singer of the 1950s who became a leading actor at the National Theatre. In Britis ...

. ''Tread Softly Stranger'' received its first DVD release in the UK in 2008.

Box office

''Kinematograph Weekly'' listed it as being "in the money" at the British box office in 1958.

Plot

Cast

Production

Reception

Box office

References

External links