Black Memory

Sydney (as he was then billed) James must have wondered just what he'd let himself in for when he arrived in London from South Africa to find himself within days shivering on a soundstage at Bushey Film Studios in the middle of the harshest winter to hit Britain in living memory (unlikely ever to be repeated thank to global warming).

The hero lends his girlfriend a crucifix for safe keeping in this very poor man's 'Brighton Rock' - atmospherically lit by S.D.Onions - which concludes with the words 'The End' accompanied by the shadow of a hangman's noose.

BLACK MEMORY is a cheap British crime film written by John Gilling, later to dominate the B-movie genre of film-making in the 1950s. This one's a little cheaper, a little darker, and a little more dated than most British crime films of the era, but it's certainly not a bad film and it doesn't deserve the low rating it has accrued on this site.

The plot is a straightforward one about a boy whose father is arrested and later hanged for murder. He grows up into something of a tearaway and arrives back in his old town looking for a job. Once there, he discovers that the circumstances surrounding the historical murder are rather murky, and local gangster Michael Medwin is somehow involved.

What follows is a film with a bit of everything; a heist plays a big part in the proceedings and there are the usual tropes of the genre elsewhere. However, it's quite serviceable, and it does have a very short running time which means that it's never dull. I did find that the main characters were a little young to be convincing. Michael Atkinson as the lead is saddled with a deathly dull character although Michael Medwin is much better in an early turn as the villain. Sid James plays in his first film and is a sorrowful supporting character. Jane Arden steals the show as a would-be femme fatale.

Michael Medwin, later to feature in Shoestring some thirty years later, plays a young thug, rather in the mould of Pinkie from Brighton Rock. He has the meatiest role in this efficient, if not particularly tense, thriller. Jane Arden, soaked in sass, plays his moll, and brings off a spirited performance. There is even a slight suggestion that the pair spent the night together, rather risqué for its time.

Sid James features in his first film looking, as ever, craggy and plays the part of a cowardly cafe owner.

Micheal Atkinson plays Danny, a rather colourless youth, who we are meant to cheer on but never was justice in its human form so dull though by the end of the film he has found a suitable personality.

All in all it passes the time in a not unpleasant way.