Tread Softly Stranger

TREAD SOFTLY STRANGER is a tense and immersive British film noir featuring a headlining performance from Diana Dors at her most sultry and alluring. The story is a basic love triangle compounded by money worries, which lead to robbery and murder, all set within a grim and run-down northern industrial town. The opening scenes, which show off a fabulous and elaborate rooftop location complimented by Dors and her morning exercise routines, are great and racy stuff indeed.

I always feel that when a British B-movie thriller gets everything right then it's head and shoulders above rival American fare and that's the case here. This tale was originally adapted from a play but the cinematic version gets everything right and in particular the cast is a fine one.

Dors obviously holds the attention with her bombshell performance, but the real star of the thing is the underrated Terence Morgan (CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB) who propped up many a B-movie with his villainous turns. He has more depth to his character than usual and does very well with it. George Baker - TV's Inspector Wexford - plays the straight role and is very nearly as good, and a young Patrick Allen rounds off the cast.

... she's not only so sexy (enjoy her first shot), but she plays well a sensitive young woman, Calico, lost between two brothers : she first was close to Dave (a fragile employee losing his temper to conquer the sweet sexy Calico) but eveything changes when tough Johnny arrives (kind of adventurer, handsome man never losing his temper, he makes me think of Ray Danton). The problem of this movie is Dave's character, always yelling when he panics, neighbours must have heard eveything about stealing and murder, and this is a major fault of the script and direction. But Diana Dors is the main attraction of the movie and the ending is especially gripping. Patrick Allen is also great as a determined parent's victim. With more work in the script and direction, it could have been a better movie, but is still entertaining.

When the British make a "B" movie, they tend to get it right -- and "Tread Softly Stranger" is a good example. George Baker as Johnny has left London and returned to his childhood home -- a scraggy northern town -- to escape the bookmakers who are screaming for his hide. His brother, Dave, a payroll clerk at a local steel mill, is a wimp, hopelessly smitten with next door neighbor Diana Dors. When the brothers set out to heist the mill's payroll, everything that can possibly go wrong does -- no surprise. But there's a nifty twist at the end that certainly is surprising. The atmosphere -- from grubby pubs to the factory's blistering operations -- provide a colorful backdrop. Worth watching.

This is not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination. But it IS fun, lots of fun. The characters are real people with all the frailties and peculiarities that make them interesting. Even though I half expected the outcome it didn't really matter because the way there was so much fun to watch. Nobody was perfect, all good or all bad, just real. Of the two brothers one began as shady and questionable character and the other as an upright citizen but as the film progressed they switched places. The transition was believable and based on facts clearly brought out in the script. Diana Dors was the fulcrum about whom the entire exercise revolved and she did an excellent job playing a woman who is confident of her appeal, willing to use it, but is anything but one-dimensional.

So what's not to like? I can't help but think that in the hands of a better director this could have been much, much better. Those same elements that made it fun could have made it great had they been handled more expertly. Dors' sensuality was shamelessly exploited and don't get me wrong, I just as shamelessly enjoyed every bit of it. But there were some superfluous shots that did nothing to advance the plot and appear to have been inserted just to give us another look at this gorgeous woman. And then there was the theme song, played to distraction. I for one, don't get the connection. What do the words "Tread Softly Stranger" have to do with the relationship between two brothers and a woman?

But in the long run, even though I can't rate it any higher, I heartily enjoyed this film and will gladly do so again. For those who haven't yet seen it do so immediately.

The stunningly beautiful Diana Dors gets involved with two brothers in "Tread Softly Stranger," a 1958 British 'B' movie. It's on a set of six films called "British Cinema," and it's by far the best of the lot.

Dors is Calico, a real slut, albeit a gorgeous one, who is hanging out with a nerdy office worker, Dave Mansell (Terence Mansell), an accountant in a nearby factory. Then his brother Johnny (George Baker), a handsome con man running away from a bad debt, comes to town. Calico quickly switches allegiance, but keeps her options open. When Johnny finds out that Dave is 300 pounds short in the accounts because of embezzling to buy Calico gifts, he decides to hock the watch Dave gave Calico, add his own money to it, and gamble on a sure thing. With an impending audit coming up, there isn't much time to replace the money.

Unfortunately, Calico has another idea. While Johnny is at the race track and winning, Calico convinces Dave that Johnny isn't coming back and insists that he just rob the factory of all its money - that way, the shortfall won't show up. She promises Dave that if he does it, she will go away with him. Turns into a real mess.

This is a very suspenseful story, very dark and loaded with atmosphere. One gets the feeling of a small, crummy factory town. The acting is good; Dors is a knockout. Definitely work seeing.