Le gang des coffres

Lance Comfort was no bad director, and he made quite a number of very sustained thriller dramas of lasting interest, although it's obvious he never could work with any sufficient budget - most of his films are of the B level, and that's glaringly obvious in this one: almost all scenes, except for a few street scenes in the dark, are indoors in flats, a cellar, the Blue Baboon night club and the cottage way out in the country, which is only used for being blown up. The weakness of this thriller is, like in so many squeezed thrillers, that so many threads are left incomplete. The murder of the blonde, for instance, is just left behind without any further questions or reports, neither in the papers nor by the police. The death of Bruno is also left without any further notice. William Franklyn at least makes a plausible case, he manages well like all the actors, and it's a relief to learn that both the doctor and the wife had nothing to do with the plot. The boy introducing the case is one of the most important parts. It's a great plot up to Lance Comfort's best standard, and he was actually best at making B-films rising up to a higher level, like the excellent "Temptation Harbour" of 1947.

Pit of Darkness is a British B film about safe maker Richard Logan (William Franklyn) waking up dazed and confused in some wasteland. He has amnesia and he went missing for three weeks.

When he arrives home his wife Julie (Moira Redmond) is shocked to see him. She thought he has been having an affair and gone off with another woman. Julie even hired a private detective who wound up dead.

When he gets back to the office Richard tries to put together what happened to him. Slowly some memories return in a hazy fashion. Her wife's voice signifying that she is being threatened. A blond young woman who was getting a bit flirty.

Some press cuttings missing from his firm. There has been a recent robbery where a safe installed by his firm was broken into. Richard get suspicious of her secretary's boyfriend who is always hanging about.

A few clues lead Richard to a nightclub owned by a man called Conrad. Maybe Richard was forced to rob a safe against his will.

An entertaining B movie. With a few flaws such as why the baddies keep Richard a fair few times. The security in Richard and his partner's firm was shocking. They seem to employ all sorts.

This is a essentially a 45 minute film which has been painfully padded out to almost 80 minutes, and it shows, as by the end I was beyond caring about the main protagonist, William Franklyn and the whole safe cracking, amnesia saga. Franklyn is a too smooth and languid character to hold the attention of the audience. His one dimensional, underwhelming character, squeezes the life out of this crime drama and so I was left merely observing the acting of the lovely Nanette Newman and Moira Redmond who have a tough time playing opposite the wooden lead. These cheaply made films traded on the usual criminal stereotypes which popped up in countless British crime films in the 50's and early 60's, hence the appearance of Michael Balfour playing the usual low life criminal, complete with cigarette dangling from the mouth. Sorry, but this film dragged so much that I was left praying for the end.

Thanks to a reasonably interesting story and strong cast, this is one of the better films from ultra low budget Butcher's Films. The paucity of resources does show up a little however in the rushed climax - presumably there wasn't enough money to stage a big action scene.

Casting cognoscenti will appreciate the fact that two of the villains are played by "The Good Old Days" impresario Leonard Sachs and the Prime Minister's father-in-law, Tony Booth!

William Franklyn, whose voiceover of Schweppes adverts would become a TV feature, posts a highly convincing performance here, hardly ever leaving the screen, and somehow reminding me of a younger Rex Harrison. He certainly looks suitably bamboozled to begin with, as he carefully pieces together his three weeks' absence from work and home.

Director Lance Comfort, about whom I am embarrassed to admit I know nothing, intelligently puts together a maze of flashbacks and throws in quite a few suspects until Logan (Franklyn) works out the enigma - and that begins with firm partner "enigmatically" telling him about the Ethiope's Ear, subsequently identified as the 250,000 quid diamond stolen from a tycoon called Tuscan.

Why that partner knows that crucial detail, and even recites it to him in his wife's presence - lovely Moira Redmond - is never explained and has to go down as a big minus, costing my rating one star. It deliberately deceives the viewer and detracts from the plot's credibility.

Otherwise, logical incidents advance a riveting and fluid story line, cinematography by Emmot and editing by Trumper are first class, and even the recurrent song, My Heart Is the Lover, by Martin Slavin, is really catchy.

Leonard Sachs plays the foreign-accented villain unctuously enough.

Not perfect, no masterpiece, but no waste of 79'. Recommended viewing if you like film noir.