The Black Panther

Ian Merrick's directorial debut arrived in 1977 soon after Donald Neilson was convicted of the murder of Lesley Whittle in 1976.

At the time the movie was regarded as exploitative and inspired sensational headlines. It's run at the movie theatres was limited and it was in effect banned until released on video.

There are some rumours that the police wanted to see the back of this movie. It is clear they come across as inept when young heiress Lesley Whittle was kidnapped ny Neilson.

The film is not lurid or exploitative. It is a character study of Neilson played by Donald Sumpter. He had done National Service, although a builder by trade. He had done a series of burglaries in the 1960s.

By the 1970s he made money by robbing post offices. Despite military precision planning, several of them were bungled, as Neilson was now a killer. As he wore a black hood was the reason he became known as the black panther.

The kidnapping of Lesley Whittle was another attempt of doing something different. Post Offices had beefed up security by now.

The problem was the ransom drop off became too complicated and error prone.

The movie is a character study of Donald Neilson. Merrick uses economy to give details of the man. A racist, just watch him as he trips over and a black man goes to help him.

His home life was that of a bully. Aggressive to his wife and daughter.

Neilson was focussed on keeping fit, maintaining his arsenal of weapons and his thorough planning. Even if things did go wrong. He ended up being arrested by chance.

Of course now the movie looks rather tame. It did gloss over some of Neilsen's early life. There is a moody performance from Sumpter.

I remember one summer when my family was on holiday at my aunt's house in Stoke on Trent my father took us to what appeared to be a disused reservoir within a park. He explained that under the grate he showed us a young woman was once held for ransom. Her name was Lesley Whittle and Donald Neilson, her abductor had left her tied up in this underground hell completely naked except for a hood over her head and a noose made of wire around her neck which would kill her if she tried to escape. She wasn't found in time and so died after Neilson didn't get the ransom he demanded. Yes, this was just an average day out for my family.

The criminal who carried out this was nicknamed in the press 'The Black Panther'. After carrying out a series of armed robberies at post offices, he set about the abduction of Whittle so that he could demand a hefty ransom and reap more lucrative rewards.

A couple of years after this kidnapping happened a film was made of these events. It was felt in the media that this was too soon and certain censorious channels sought to prevent the film being shown at cinemas throughout the UK. How this was achieved was by pressure being placed on local authorities who in those days had a lot of power regarding films being shown. The BBFC could make a decision on a film and whether it should be left uncut, censored and banned outright but then the film was at the mercy of local authorities and councils as to whether the film would be aired in their respective boroughs.

This is what happened with The Black Panther and why it was as good as suppressed in the UK. The TV show Tonight were part of this campaign to prevent the film playing with the show's host Sue Lawley dubbing it a 'sick film' even though she hadn't seen it.

The film resurfaced in the 80's on VHS but aside from that remained buried as it were (pun not intended). That's until the BFI restored the film a few years ago and issued it on Blu ray.

So is this film really some kind of hidden gem worthy of rediscovery? In a word- YES! It's a bleak account of a psychopathic man embarking a life using his lack of conscience to try to get rich quick after leaving the forces. In fact his time in the army is looked back on by Neilson through rose tinted spectacles as he reminisces about it but also brings that past into his present as he struts around in his attic in his old uniform reliving his glory days. He even lives in the wild as if on an army retreat for days at a time whilst he plans his crimes- firstly, the robbery of the post office substations and then the kidnapping of Whittle. We see him use his training at home also again in his attic/office to plan these projects with military precision.

The Black Panther is just like it's main character in that it's completely cold, emotionless and detached. This may sound like some kind of criticism but it works brilliantly well. This is the film equivalent of the objective and fact based kind of crime reportage used with no editorialising whatsoever. Even the screen captions to denote dates and places is done so by utilising the font of a typewriter to denote the fact-based reporting of facts. In fact the film brings to mind the reconstructions that were part of the true crime TV show Crimewatch UK, especially the ones featured in the earlier series that were shot on film.

It's also interesting to see an emotionless character like Neilson operating in the real world and with other people who possess the empathy chip even though he doesn't. The scenes of him at home with his wife and family are darkly entertaining and sometimes downright shocking. He expects his wife to be little more than a hausfrau who serves him and him alone. He barks his disapproval at every turn and over the most mundane things that can't be controlled (we see throughout the film that Neilson wants control over everything in his life but life doesn't work like that. Each of his robberies are besieged and altered from running smoothly by factors that are beyond his control). One example is when he doesn't even look at his wife but raises his tea mug to let her now that he wants it to be filled again. After she dutifully does this he then takes a sip and screams that the tea is 'too hot!'

There also another very perceptive insight into his home life as we see his teenaged daughter ask if she can go out to see friends. He says no and explains that she will spend money whilst she's out and that it's better to save instead for a rainy day. His daughter then whispers to her mother that her father has said no and they both look dejected. This doesn't last long through. Neilson announces that he will be away for two weeks on another job (he says he's going away to work on projects like house renovations when he is in fact embarking on his army style manoeuvres). We see a sly smile spread across his daughter's face at the news as she exchanges very knowing glances with her mother as if to say 'Hooray! He's out of our hair for a while!'

The film also acts as a snapshot of what life was really like in 1977. The red phone boxes the killer uses, the thoroughly ugly headboards and brown pyjama sets worn by the sub postmasters when they are rudely awoken in the middle of the night by Neilson robbing their business. The film also shows how terrifying it must have been to be woken up by a man in a blood hood brandishing a sown off shotgun in your face.

The BFI have done a great job with the Blu ray for the film as it looks and sounds amazing. There are also exhaustive liner notes from director Ian Merrick as to the curious history of the film, it's unwarranted suppression and it's re-emergence on Blu ray. There are also a wealth of extras such as short films and raw footage shot when locations were being sought for the film.

The Black Panther can now be seen for what it always was- an outstanding true crime film that was ahead of it's time.

Donald Sumpter is flawless in his portrayal of Donald Neilson, a pretty weird guy. I saw this on tape when I was about five or six, and fifteen years later I still remember certain scenes very vividly. By all accounts one of the most factual true crime pictures ever made.

We were all sick to our stomachs when this thing came out in 1977.

The Leslie Whittle case had rolled across the news for months and months and most kids were afraid to go out at night.

Kaye Alexander looked sick to her stomach every time she read the news.

For some opportunistic cast, producer and director to capitalise on the crime and Whittle family misery to make a few quid was absolutely disgusting.

It was centre stage in our local video shop for months and I don't think anyone hired it about from the local weirdos and paedos.

Cheapskate media is always willing to have a laugh at our expense.

Video nasty? Made all the porn films look tame. Hang your heads in shame.

Depressing, authentic-looking account of the real-life kidnapping of wealthy heiress by a desperate ex-serviceman whose attempts to collect a relatively modest ransom unravels at every juncture placing the abducted girl at risk. We know how it ends, but not necessarily the brutal build-up which is depicted in violent, unflinching detail.

The mundanity of the kidnapper's bland home life paints a rather bleak existence in which he's compelled to commit more crimes to support his modest lifestyle, unwilling to accept the employment opportunities he's afforded, regarding them as undignified for a person with his service record. As he becomes more detached from reality, he manages to convince himself that the victims of his heinous crimes have only themselves to blame.

Sumpter plays the pathetic narcissist with selfish realism, an insecure criminal with a hair-trigger temper motivated by money; patient and pedantic in his preparation, but unable to execute his crimes efficiently, leading to multiple reckless and unnecessary murders.

There's been some speculative decisions made regarding the fate of the abductee at the film's anti-climax with the aftermath largely explained via on-screen text, but the emphasis is on the depravity of the crimes, moreover than their restitution.

Whilst the subdued, no-frills approach is gripping, the film's proximity to the actual events made it a contemporaneous commercial failure. Time has afforded it more favourable attention, now appreciated for its unglamorous portrayal of some of the most callous crimes committed in England in modern times. Understated and well worth a look.