Les bolides de l'enfer

Am a huge fan of older films and 'Johnny Dark' interested me. Mainly to see a very young Piper Laurie and Tony Curtis an early role as part of my Tony Curtis film completest quest and how they would fare individually and as a partnership. Also because the story on paper seemed intriguing if silly.

Saw 'Johnny Dark' with the mind-set of not expecting a masterpiece and just some escapist entertainment without expecting too much or everything to be of superb quality. 'Johnny Dark' achieved this goal and is very overlooked. It may not blow the mind and it may not be one of Curtis's best films or contain one of his best performances. A lot is done right however and it compels and entertains throughout its length, which didn't feel too long or too short.

Do think that the script is not the best, certainly not terrible but could have been tighter and sharper.

Excepting Don Taylor, the supporting cast don't properly stand out as characters with not much to them.

However, Curtis is both youthful and charming, clearly having fun with his role and looking comfortable in it. Lovely Piper Laurie matches him in the charm factor and is equally spirited. Their chemistry has a real warmth and playfulness, so is very believable throughout. Don Taylor is able support. There is wit and liveliness in the script. The direction has an efficiency that suits the adventurous element of the story perfectly.

It is very difficult to dislike the story. Like the script, it doesn't boast many surprises but it is not a dull one and clips along at a breezy pace, with a clear idea at what it was trying to be and appeal to without trying to do more. The characters are archetypes but likeable ones. The action and chasing continually excite and the music is rousing. 'Johnny Dark' is shot with vibrant colour and the setting colourful and atmospheric. Love the car and it is like a character of its own.

Overall, good fun. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A young auto racing enthusiast and automotive engineer, Johnny Dark (Curtis) designs a new type of race car that his auto manufacturer-employer, Fielding Motors, won't build, so he enters it in a Reno, Nevada to Tijuana, Mexico road race. His girlfriend, Liz (Laurie), daughter of the CEO of Fielding Motors, as strong-willed as he is, finally realizes how important his passion for racing is, and fully supports him to win his heart.

A really fun picture, in glorious Technicolor. This film was made by many of the same personnel who worked on THIS ISLAND EARTH (1955), including the producer, and featured some prime examples of a custom-fiberglas bodied sports car made in Lynwood (a suburb of Los Angeles, Calif.) in limited numbers by a small auto-maker company. The car was the Woodill Wildfire, made from 1953 to 1957 in small, hand-crafted numbers by Woody Woodill Motors. Film also features many other rare early-1950s American sports cars, made in small numbers by independent manufacturers. They are rare collectors' cars today. This movie was remade exactly ten years later by Bill Alland and director Jack Arnold as The LIVELY SET (Universal, 1964). Great fun for all. Hey, Universal, why isn't this movie out on video?

Tony Curtis plays the title role in Johnny Dark who is an automobile designer brimming with new ideas. The trouble is that Curtis is working for a motor car company that is very stodgy in its ways. The head is Sidney Blackmer who bears no small resemblance to Henry Ford. Back in the day Ford insisted on turning out his Model-T when the taste of the American motoring public had changed. So it is with Blackmer who says his company has no place for the sports car that Curtis has designed. In fact says Blackmer's secretary and girl Friday Ilka Chase that it took a major effort for Blackmer to put a station wagon on the market.

But Tony has allies, among them Chase, Paul Kelly the chief designer of the company and Piper Laurie who is Blackmer's granddaughter. She likes what she sees in Curtis on many levels.

It's all climaxed in an American style grand prix with a marathon race from the Canadian border to the Mexican border in Lower California. Many obstacles are encountered but do you doubt that Curtis will triumph?

Some nice racing sequences are expertly photographed for the film. Besides those mentioned in the cast take note of Don Taylor who plays Curtis's test driver and friend. Curtis is so self centered he blames Taylor for a crash when it was a mechanical failure. Taylor gets back at him. That self centeredness and dedication to his mission also cause problems between Tony and Piper Laurie.

Johnny Dark will never rank among the great racing films like Grand Prix from the next decade. But it's a decent enough action programmer exhibiting one of Universal Studio's biggest young stars of the decade.

I was expecting a gangster film when I sas the title to this film, but was surprised to find out it was a lightweight racing film instead. Tony Curtis is pleasing, as is Piper Laurie (before she became middle-aged), and Don Taylor, who would go on to several gangster heavy roles in the future, was also very good. A fun film.

if you are into car racing films,johnny dark gives you plenty of high speed action of two man racers flying throughout the open roads of 1950s america.i just wish someone would release it to homevideo.