''Tread Softly Stranger'' is a 1958 British crime drama film directed by Gordon Parry and starring

Diana Dors Diana Dors (born Diana Mary Fluck; 23 October 19314 May 1984) was an English actress and singer. Dors came to public notice as a Bombshell (slang), blonde bombshell, much in the style of Americans Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, and Mamie Van ...

, George Baker and Terence Morgan. The screenplay was written by George Minter adapted from the stage play ''Blind Alley'' (1953) by Jack Popplewell. The film was shot in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

film noir Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...

style, and its setting in an industrial town in northern England mirrors the

kitchen sink realism Kitchen sink realism (or kitchen sink drama) is a British cultural movement that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, film and television plays, whose protagonists usually could be described as " angry young men" ...

movement coming into vogue in English drama and film at the time.

Plot

Johnny Mansell has fled to the Yorkshire steel town of Rawborough, his home town, after racking up large gambling debts in London. He moves into a cramped flat with his brother Dave, a clerk in a local steel mill. Dave's girlfriend Calico, a hostess in a local nightclub, lives close by and their flats have neighbouring flat roof spaces which they often use. 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

Production

The film was shot at Walton Studios in

Walton-on-Thames Walton-on-Thames, known locally as Walton, is a market town on the bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, Thames in northwest Surrey, England. It is in the Borough of Elmbridge, about southwest of central London. Walton forms part ...

and on location in Parkgate,

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

. The eponymous theme tune was sung by Jim Dale.

Box office

Kinematograph 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 ...

'' listed it as being "in the money" at the British box office in 1958 and had "scored" commercially.

Critical reception

In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' David Quinlan wrote: ''Thriller has silly dialogue, fails to make use of Rotheram backgrounds.''

Leslie Halliwell Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...

wrote: "Hilarious murky melodrama full of glum faces, with a well-worn trick ending; rather well photographed." The ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

Guide to Films'' gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "The big question here is, what on earth were Diana Dors, Terence Morgan and George Baker doing in such a dreary little film? Director Gordon Parry was capable of making involving pictures, but here he insists on his cast delivering each line as if it had the dramatic weight of a Russian novel, which is more than a little preposterous for a petty melodrama about criminal brothers falling for the same girl."

Release

''Tread Softly Stranger'' received its first DVD release in the UK in 2008.

References

External links

*
''Tread Softly Stranger''
at BFI * *
''Tread Softly Stranger''
at British 60s Cinema
''Tread Softly Stranger''
at Letterbox DVD * at Noir of the Week {{DEFAULTSORT:Tread Softly Stranger 1950s British films 1950s English-language films 1958 crime drama films 1958 films British black-and-white films British crime drama films British heist films English-language crime drama films Film noir Films about brothers Films about murderers Films directed by Gordon Parry Films scored by Tristram Cary Films set in Yorkshire Films shot in Yorkshire