And Soon the Darkness (1970)
And Soon the Darkness (1970), directed by Robert Fuest.
A slow-burn thriller about two English girls on a cycling trip in France. Foolishly, they split up after an argument and one vanishes along a stretch of rural road known for rape-and-murder. Her friend searches for her but doesn't speak the language and is not getting much help from the locals. It builds to the type of climax familiar in later slasher films.
I had never heard of this until it appeared on Blu-ray. It is a small film but I think rather well done. Points of interest:
The title doesn't mean anything, but it did catch my attention and pull me in, so the studio knew something about marketing.
It is a "sunny day" thriller, set all in one day.
A persistent tone of paranoia: the more we see of the locals, the more we begin to imagine about them, without any actual evidence.
It skillfully combines several known fears: of being a tourist in danger in a strange location, of inexplicable disappearance, of sexual menaces and the chance of being murdered, of not being able to trust anyone.
The French dialogue has no subtitles, neither in the original film nor on the Blu-ray. This is so we can share our character's confusion and understand just enough to be suspicious. John Boorman did the same thing in Hell in the Pacific (1968).
Most of the exteriors were filmed in France and we get to know a run-down stretch of road pretty well.
The cinematography somehow gives us a intimate "you are there" feeling without being documentary-like. You can hear the light breeze on that road and almost feel it. Credit to Ian Wilson -- Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter (1974), The Crying Game (1992), Emma (1996).
Pamela Franklin, age 20, is the lead and I always enjoy seeing her. Her first film was The Innocents (1961) at age 11, followed by The Nanny (1965), The Night of the Following Day (1968), The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and The Legend of Hell House (1973).
After the light, bouncy vacation music of the opening credits, Laurie Johnson delivers a wonderfully ominous score. It deserves a soundtrack album but as far as I know has never had one. He is also known for Tiger Bay (1959), Dr. Strangelove (1964) and the 1960s The Avengers TV series.
When The Avengers was canceled it seems like the entire crew came over to work on this film.
This was made during the three year period when actor/writer/director Bryan Forbes was head of EMI Films.
Remade in 2010 with Karl Urban and Amber Heard. Not much noticed or liked.
Available on Blu-ray from Kino with two commentary tracks: production memories by the director and producer, and a happy appreciation by film scholar Troy Howarth.
