Hammer: Icons of Suspense - Never Take Candy From Strangers (1961)
Hammer: Icons of Suspense - Never Take Candy From Strangers (1961)
Don't try the sucker.
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Disc Two:
Never Take Candy From Strangers (1960)
These Are the Damned (1963)
The Icons of Suspense set opens the Hammer House of Horror vaults to reveal six rare films, which I will be reviewing in three installments. These are the movies you might not know about, ones without the famous "Hammer Glamour" girls in negligees and sleek vampires biting necks, but they're worth more than just a look.
Considered 'foreigners' in Canada, a small British family unit moves into their spacious new home and quickly finds trouble just a few minutes into the film when their exceptionally beautiful 8-year-old daughter Jean (Janina Faye) attracts the attention of the local child-molester. She's out playing on a swing in a rather isolated wooded area with her playmate Lucille (apparently uncredited) when she loses the loose change she's saved up to buy candy, and is tempted to take some sweets from an elderly man who lives nearby and all alone.
We don't see what happens, but later on Jean is telling her parents about her day of play and reveals quite innocently that she and Lucille danced naked in Clarence's (Felix Aylmer) bedroom. She doesn't seem traumatized by the event, but as the story leaks the townspeople go up in arms against Jean and her family. Turns out Clarence is a founding father, and his son Clarence Jr. (Bill Nagy) runs the burg's economy as owner of the sawmill. A court trial follows, and Jean is put on the stand, mercilessly interrogated by the best lawyers money can buy. Justice is twisted in favor of the powerful, and Clarence, Sr. is found not guilty. This means he is free to stalk his prey once more.
Never Take Candy From Strangers is not a horror film, nor is it exactly suspense by nature of the genre, but the combined talents of director Cyril Frankel and Hammer's star DP Freddie Francis really ratchet up the thrill factor. It's a genuinely gripping drama, exceedingly well-written and mostly well-acted. Young Faye is the standout; she's got a striking, womanly face (reminiscent of Natalie Wood, or Brooke Shields at that age), which is at odds with her childish voice and naive mien. It's unsettling, as is the starkly frank dialogue (for the era — while not as memorable as, it's more direct than its "taboo" contemporaries, such as Kubrick's Lolita, Wyler's The Children's Hour, or Clayton's The Innocents.)
On the other end of the spectrum, I did not care for the Clarence, Sr. character. He's made to be what appears to be mentally challenged; it's not really explained (except his son says something along the lines of, "Dad may be a little slow, but he's not a pervert") and so I don't understand how he was such a powerful citizen and successful family man in his day. (Granted, my attention may have wandered… the movie is very, very talky.)
Overall, Never Take Candy From Strangers is solid, masterfully made crime drama. Definitely recommended.
Also on this disc is These Are the Damned (1963), a science fiction film starting Oliver Reed.
These Are the Damned
What's a teddy boy? I guess it's kind of a beatnik with a mean-streak. A forerunner to the Malcolm McDowell character in Kubrick's 1971 killer classic A Clockwork Orange, Oliver Reed plays King, the leather-clad leader of a gang of ruffians who like to beat the stuffing out of blameless bystanders while whistling jaunty tunes. His sexy sister, Joan (Shirley Anne Field), is the bait used to corner and cripple horny old men.
However, one randy oldster called Simon (Macdonald Carey) doesn't let a little thing like a vicious caning put him off — he later pursues Joan so ardently, that he winds up kidnapping her. Her jealous bro King gives chase, and they all wind up on a peninsula that's the home of some rather nefarious scientific experiments. Turns out the rocky domain is a hiding place for nuclear testing, which involves creepy, cold children. Let the Reed overacting extravaganza begin!
Director Joseph Losey's work is a mixed bag — I liked The Boy with Green Hair (1948), Modesty Blaise (1966) and his remake of M (1951), but These Are The Damned is by turns highly amusing (not intentionally) and brutally boring (surely that was not intentional, either). Shot with an ostentatious and artistic eye for composition, the black and white cinematography by Hammer man Arthur Grant is gorgeous. The acting is overwrought, and the incredibly arch dialogue is to die for.
The under-the-'radiation' references to molesters, rape, and incest are pretty hard to miss but it's edifying to see how these red-button themes were handled in contrast to Never Take Candy From Strangers, which was released a year or two before by the same studio.
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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson
RELATED REVIEWS:
Stop Me Before I Kill! (1960)
From the Press Release "On April 6th Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) opens the doors to the Hammer vault with the release of six films making their DVD debuts in The Icons of Suspense Collection Presents Hammer Films. Hammer Films made their name with monsters and vampires, but this third compilation from SPHE proves they could frighten the public without them. Topping the set is the uncut version of the futuristic classic These Are The Damned (aka The Damned, 1963), directed by the legendary Joseph Loseygr. Peter Cushing and Andre Morell match wits in Cash on Demand (1961). Oscar®-winning cinematographer Guy Green directed The Snorkel (1958), about a young girl who can’t convince anyone her stepfather is a murderer. The renowned Val Guest directed the startling psychodrama Stop Me Before I Kill! (aka The Full Treatment, 1960). Kerwin Matthews finds himself in the middle of a strange mother/daughter threesome in the Jimmy Sangster-written Maniac (1963). Plus, this ultimate rarity: Cyril Frankel’s astounding Never Take Candy from a Stranger (aka Never Take Sweets from a Stranger, 1960), a serious, and still horrifyingly timely, chiller about a small town terrorized by an elderly child molester. You won’t do better than this impeccable collection from the darkest corners of the Hammer imagination, which will be available for $24.96 SRP."