Tread Softly Stranger
Tread Softly Stranger | |
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Directed by | Gordon Parry |
Written by | George Minter Jack Popplewell (play) |
Produced by | George Minter |
Starring | Diana Dors George Baker Terence Morgan |
Cinematography | Douglas Slocombe |
Edited by | Anthony Harvey |
Music by | Tristram Cary |
Release date | August 1958 |
Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Tread Softly Stranger is a 1958 British crime drama directed by Gordon Parry and starring Diana Dors, George Baker and Terence Morgan. The film was shot in black-and-white in film noir style, and its setting in an industrial town in northern England mirrors the kitchen sink realism movement coming into vogue in English drama and film at the time. The screenplay was adapted from the stage play Blind Alley (1953) by Jack Popplewell.
Plot
The action takes place in the Yorkshire steel town of Rawborough – Rotherham was used for the extensive location filming – to which native son Johnny Mansell (George Baker) has fled after racking up large gambling debts in London. Johnny moves into a cramped flat with his brother Dave (Terence Morgan), a clerk in a local steel mill, and Dave's girlfriend Calico (Diana Dors), a hostess in a local nightclub. Calico comes up with a plan for the brothers to rob the payroll at Dave's workplace to steal enough money to cover Dave's fraud and Johnny's debts
Cast
- Diana Dors as Calico
- George Baker as Johnny Mansell
- Terence Morgan as Dave Mansell
- Patrick Allen as Paddy Ryan
- Jane Griffiths as Sylvia
- Joseph Tomelty as Joe Ryan
- Thomas Heathcote as Sgt. Lamb
- Russell Napier as Potter
- Norman Macowan as Danny
- Maureen Delany as Mrs. Finnegan
- Betty Warren as Flo
- Timothy Bateson as Fletcher
- John Salew as Pawnbroker
- Michael Golden as St. John's Ambulance Man
- George Merritt as Timekeeper
- Andrew Keir as Inspector Harris
- Hal Osmond as Flatcap
- Norman Pierce as Publican
- Patrick Crean as Blue Blazer
- Wilfrid Lawson as Holroyd (uncredited)
- Jerold Wells as Constable at racecourse (uncredited)
Reception
Tread Softly Stranger did reasonable business at the box-office on its original release but received little critical attention, being seen as a typical crime potboiler which would be watched once and then forgotten. Its reputation was upgraded in later decades, with critics finding much to admire, particularly the cinematography by Douglas Slocombe with its authentic feel of everyday life in a steel town of the era. The main incongruity in the film is cited as the noticeable lack of Yorkshire accents in characters who were supposedly born and brought up in the county. It is also questionable whether a town such as Rawborough in the 1950s would have been the venue for a nightclub of the type in which Calico is employed, a far cry from the working men's club it purports to be.[citation needed]
The eponymous theme tune was sung by Jim Dale.
Tread Softly Stranger received its first DVD release in the UK in 2008.
References
External links
- Tread Softly Stranger at IMDb
- Tread Softly Stranger at AllMovie
- Tread Softly Stranger at BritMovie (archived)