Faux policiers

The Secret Place is directed by Clive Donner and written by Linette Perry. It stars Belinda Lee, Ronald Lewis, Michael Brooke, Michael Gwynn, Geoffrey Keen and David McCallum. Music is by Clifton Parker and cinematography by Ernest Steward,

Little seen and heard of piece of British noir, The Secret Place sits somewhere in between good and frustrating. Plot involves London crooks enacting a gems robbery and finding themselves at the mercy of an adolescent boy and his secret place.

First and foremost the pluses here far outweigh the negatives. The cast list is a veritable roll call of British actors who need no introduction to fans of British film and TV. The cinematography on show is perpetually film noir in look, where cinematographer Steward (The 39 Steps/Payroll) fills 90% of the pic with monochrome menace and dark cloaked actions. The robbery at the center of the tale is suspenseful and has a cheeky glint in its eye, and with the cast on form - bolstered by an excellent child acting turn from Brooke, production value from London locales is bang on the money.

However, the pacing of the pic is an issue, where as much as you want some depth to characterisations, the back and forward expansion of the key players takes up the bulk of the running time. It's also sad to report that the finale just fizzles out as a damp squib, almost as if the Hays Code was still in force and thriving in Britain! Is there still enough to keep this above average? Yes, definitely, but it's not a hidden gem by any stretch of the imagination. 6/10

Nearly fifty years before four elderly criminals took on Hatton Garden a couple of young whippersnappers were attempting to loot the place to the tune of the potentially life-changing sum of £60,000; a tidy enough sum even today!

Clive Donner made an auspicious debut as a director with this meandering but gripping drama vividly shot against a backdrop of a postwar London of bombsites and building sites, both by day and night.

A splendid thriller, slow in the start, but eventually the build-up begins towards an impressing climax, both story-wise and above all cinematographically. The actors are all more than excellent, especially the boy - one of the greatest performances in films ever by a child. The plot is, to say the least, complicated: it starts simple enough, as plans are made for an infallible burglary into a jewellry boutique, but, as always, unexpected things happen, leading to an extensive mess of complications. Please be patient with this film. There are many dull moments in the beginning, but I promise you, eventually you will wake up.

A beautiful young woman named Molly (Belinda Lee) begrudgingly gets involved with her brother Mike (David McCallum) in a diamond heist, meticulously planned by a small-time crook (Ronald Lewis). It's super risky, involving the impersonation of police, but amazingly, they get away with it. Sadly, a boy named Freddie (Michael Brooke), who has a crush on Molly, also becomes involved without his knowledge, and now he's in danger too.

This one features shades of The Window, which is a good thing. It's not on par with that one for various reasons, but still very enjoyable, with some good surprises. The story is engaging, adding layers that keep interest high, especially when Freddie's little brother finds something he shouldn't have, which sets off an entirely new, somewhat amusing chain of events.

All the performances were enjoyable, but Michael Brooke was the real revelation here. He did a fine job in the last of eight roles in his short career. (I also saw him in X the Unknown, but it wouldn't have been significant to me at the time)

I was very pleasantly surprised with this one. Recommended!

Yes I too would like to see the rating higher as "Tryavna" above suggests such that I rated this film 7/10.I bought a job lot from a rare DVD dealer but somehow did not play this title until today.Being born in 1946 I can well remember building sites on which me and friends would play in our free time (very dangerous when I look back).England still had lots of bomb damage in 1957 and bomb site car parks were common.Us children traded objects out of school but I was never offered a real diamond!The afore-mentioned user has adequately commented on the plot and production values and I agree the film needed speeding up somewhat, although it kept my attention to the end.Of course the moral film code was much in evidence in 1957 so that any criminal caper had to show the perpetrators obtaining their just deserts in the end.

Belinda Lee. although mainly a glamour puss in British and continental films in the 1950s, here is given a real acting part which does not just trade on her outstanding physical looks as she has to play a friendly & sympathetic relationship with her young 14 year old co-star.It was sad her life had to end prematurely in a car accident in the USA in 1961.Curiously there was no film music heard in the chase scene on the building site between Lewis, Brookes & Lee.There has been a real life raid recently on a safe deposit in Hatton Garden,London which was in the papers and which makes this film quite topical.