There Is No Escape
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''There is No Escape'' (also known as ''The Dark Road'' and ''The Thurston Story'') is a 1948 British second feature ('B')
drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...
directed by Alfred J. Goulding and starring Farnham Baxter,
Cyril Chamberlain Cyril Chamberlain (8 March 1909 – 30 April 1974) was an English film and television actor. He appeared in a number of the early '' Carry On'', '' Doctor'' and '' St. Trinian's'' films. Chamberlain's first film appearance was in the 1936 Mich ...
,
Sydney Bromley Sidney Charles Bromley (24 July 1909 – 14 August 1987GRO Register of Deaths: AUG 1987 18 2293 WORTHING - Sydney Charles Bromley DoB = 24 Jul 1909 aged 78), credited as Sydney Bromley, was an English character actor. He appeared in more than s ...
and Stanley Thurston (credited as Charles Stewart). It was produced by Henry Halstead for
Hammer Films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as wi ...
. The film features an early appearance from Peter Reynolds, and was
Michael Ripper Michael George Ripper (27 January 1913 – 28 June 2000) was an English character actor who appeared in many British horror and science fiction films. Career Ripper began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 195 ...
's first appearance in a Hammer Film.


Plot

A crime novelist named Nick Allen is assigned to write the true life story of a petty criminal named Sidney Robertson. Robertson was recently killed falling off a building while fleeing the police during a jewel theft. Allen's book traces the story of the criminal who started a life of crime at a very young age and kept falling in with the wrong crowd all his life. At one point, Robertson was sentenced to prison for seven years, but later managed to escape. Reuniting with an old girlfriend named Anne, he is lured into committing a jewel robbery, which leads to his death.


Cast


Production

The film was based on the career of criminal Stanley Thurston, who appeared in the cast as a character based on himself. Thurston was famous for his numerous escapes from prison, 5 times in 15 years. He was released from prison in October 1946. The film had trouble with the British censors who thought the film glamorised a real life criminal. Thurston had to be billed as "Charles Stuart."
James Carreras Sir James "Jimmy" Enrique Carreras (30 January 1909 – 9 June 1990) was an English film producer and executive who, together with William Hinds, founded the British company Hammer Film Productions. His career spanned nearly 45 years, in multi ...
said, "The picture already has official police approval. I have done everything to show that crime is a mug's game. Thurston is the only non-professional actor in the film. All he asked was £10 a week to cover expenses. At the end of the film he turns to the audience and tells them that a criminal life just isn't worth the candle, especially when guns are brought into crime. He made such a good job of the picture that I had him listed for a racing story on his merits as an actor. That plan will now have to be shelved." The film was shot at
Marylebone Studios Marylebone Studios was a British film studio in London. Established in the late 1930s, it had two stages in a converted church hall near the Edgware Road. The studio worked with Hammer Films on films, including the adaptations of the Dick Bar ...
.


Reception

''
The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...
'' wrote: "The film closes with the controversial moralisation that crime cannot pay; it is poorly contrived, and the irresponsible direction and bad editing merely serve to make matters worse. With some twenty minutes' unnecessary footage pruned away the film might become mediocre second-feature entertainment, but in its present state it does not deserve serious criticism." ''
Kine Weekly ''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971. Etymology The word Kinematograph was derived from the Greek ' Kinumai ', (to move, to be in motion, to ...
'' wrote: "'Crime does not pay' melodrama, illustrating the story submitted to the editor of an American thriller magazine. Its object is apparently to prove that honesty is the best policy, but amateurish acting, uneven direction and a dishevelled script prevent it from underlining its message with exciting, let alone plausible, 'thick ear.' Indifferent quota."


References


External links

*{{IMDb title, 0174575
''The Dark Road''
at BFI 1948 films British drama films 1948 drama films British black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1940s British films