Don’t go down to the woods today… Assault (1971), Network Blu-ray

 

Now, here’s a thing, I had no idea that the composer Eric Rogers was no relation to Peter Rogers despite their working together dozens of times mostly on Carry on films, all but two had Eric’s scoring. Born in Halifax, Eric’s real name was Eric Gaukroger although he later hyphenated his surname to Gauk-Roger. As with Peter though, Eric diversified and this thriller was one of a number of a number of more “adult” crime thrillers they worked on including Vengeance (1971) and the excellent All Coppers Are (1972), also available on Network Blu-ray and also directed by Sidney Hayers.

I've started off with the Rogers as I’m always slightly surprised to find them away from comedy and especially Eric as clearly, he’s more evident in the films than the Producer. His score here very effectively contributes to the brooding menace and the sense of threat that powers the narrative. In terms of visual subtlety, Hayers is more efficient than inventive but it still works as an unsettling watch albeit one reliant on the male gaze and sexualised threat to femininity. Is it exploitation, probably but it’s well acted and sincere entertainment of its time…

We start off at a posh all-girls school as an array of period cars arrives to collect the slightly mature looking young women. If you like classic British motors, then you will not be disappointed with the films deployment of Morris, Triumph and Jaguar cars; art-teacher Julie West (the divine Suzy Kendall) drives a Morris Minor estate, Det. Chief Supt. Velyan (Frank Finlay) has a Morse-type Jaguar and Freddie Jones’ nasty reporter has a sporty model I’m yet to identify, possibly and MGA Coupe? That plus all of the Morris Minor Panda cars…

Shouldn't you be studying for your A-levels Lesley-Anne?

But the real story starts with one of the girls, Tessa Hurst (a 17-year old Lesley-Anne Down in her first starring role) taking a short-cut home through the woods which leads to her being viciously assaulted under the shadow of an electric power station, it’s unsettling to watch, a bit too voyeuristic for me, but thankfully not overplayed. The result leaves Tessa catatonic with shock and unable to talk as she’s taken in to care at a mental hospital by Doctor Greg Lomax (James Laurenson) who along with specialist Mr. Bartell (Anthony Ainley, famously The Master in Doctor Who after Roger Delgado).

The police launch an investigation under the command of Chief Super Velyan and Det. Sgt. Beale (James Cosmo, evergreen as he is and still performing!) and from this point on we will be introduced to a series of characters who are all a bit suspicious to some extent, the game of cat and red herring is afoot!

Obviously, it’s not going to be the lovely Julie who is as down with the kids as anyone in this rather odd school. Headmistress Mrs. Sanford (Dilys Hamlett) is so strait-laced it’s rather unlikely that she’s married to Tony Beckley’s creepy Leslie Sanford but that’s the point. Whilst she looks after the girls’ spiritual well-being he keeps an unblinking eye on their more earthy qualities, greedily eying them up in the playground or touching them up in the library (Janet Lynn, definitely over 18 and who played Carol Thatcher – no, not that one - with Robin Askwith in Cool it Carol! the year before).

Under suspicion: Tony Beckley, James Cosmo and Frank Dinlay

Then the situation gets even worse as another girl, Susan Miller (Anabel Littledale, aged 19) ignoring instructions and common sense, takes the same short-cut and this time the crime escalates to murder, with accompanying fleshy details. Julie, driving four other girls home, spots the missing pupil and drives her Morris into the woods, only to arrive just too late as she glimpses the killer, face lit by her red break lights in a demonic glow…

She cannot escape the image she saw nor explain it to the police and is all but laughed from the inquest when she describes her vision. Luckily for her Doctor Greg is on hand to support the very beautiful young woman in her hour of need, he has ulterior motive alright but is there anything more…? Certainly, of ill-intent is reporter Freddie Jones, playing a blinder as the grubby tabloid hack pushing for an angle and any salacious detail right to the point of pestering Julie at home.

The police assign Sgt. Milton (Patrick Jordan) to protect Julie as she paints the image she remembers and, in collusion with the reporter, puts a story in the papers that she can draw the face of the killer she recalls… it’s a very high-risk strategy and one we know will bring her into danger. But who will it be, one of the good guys or one of the obviously bad ones?

James Laurenson and Suzy Kendall

Dusty Verdict: Assault is an entertaining thriller that gets the job done with the aid of some very good performances especially from Frank Findley, who’s always so nuanced he could be one of the suspects… maybe he is, and Suzy Kendall who made a career out of playing female febrility, a Derbyshire Julie Christie!

The set pieces are well executed and the villain is a genuine mystery for long enough… And, apart from the classy, classic cars, there’s some fab cameos including Mr David Essex as the leather-jacketed Man in Chemist Shop looking for help for his girlfriend’s nosebleed. It’s definitely not him…

You can order the Blu-ray direct from Network and at a great price, there’s so much on their website, you’ll probably come away with more than you budgeted for!

 

 

 

Freddie

 

 

The Headmistress' Husband is unsuitable for educational work...

David Essex!

 

The car section...
 

Classic cars...

Really Sidney? Cars and short skirts...

Morris Minor Estate with wooden trim: classic!

Jaguar

Morris Pandas

Is that an MGA Coupe?

 

Room at the top… The Penthouse (1967)

I don’t know if I like this film: it’s well-acted and may have some points to make about class privilege, selfishness and truthfulness but it’s just so… unpleasant. There’s intimidation, forceful role-playing, at least two rapes (apparently) and actual bodily harm and, in the end, all for what? It’s a trial by endurance for one couple’s ill-founded relationship but does she necessarily have to see the light after being forced to get drunk and stoned and to have intercourse with two men who have invaded their home?

Based on C. Scott Forbes’ 1964 play, The Meter Man, the film was described by director Peter Collinson as being about “…the horror that lurks in the minds of men” and self-knowledge. More importantly, it is by way of a fantasy… what you see isn’t necessarily what you get and that is frankly confusing as I don’t believe there was sufficient narrative skill deployed to bring this across in spite of the excellence of the performers. I mean, Peter… if you could only have given us a clue!?

A rose between two 'orrible thorns

But maybe he was over-ruled by a denouement re-write that effectively just repeated the trick of the first three quarters leaving the audience shaken but not necessarily stirred. Had they stuck to the original plot, the relationship trajectory of the two leads would have made more sense but as it is we’re left with a simpler, more visceral modern horror. The English critics didn’t care for the film but it played very well in the US and elsewhere… perhaps High-Rise Horror was a genre with more appeal in Manhattan’s art-house flea-pits.

As the great Roger Ebert said in his review at the time: “This isn't an evil movie, and it's not an example of the pornography of violence… "The Penthouse," quite simply, is a pretty good shocker... It's a relief to find one that's made with skill and a certain amount of intelligence.”

Lights are on and there's almost nobody home...

The film opens with two men approaching a twenty storey block of flats, a light flicks on in the penthouse and they turn to each other and smile.

Meanwhile we discover that the light switch has been turned on by Suzy Kendall who will likewise do the same to parts of the audience (with thanks to Ian Anderson for that one). She plays Barbara, a shop girl who is having an affair with a rich and powerful estate agent called Bruce (Terence Morgan) who is at this moment struggling to wake up, lounging in their bed whilst she makes him breakfast.

Morning doubts

Their affair has reached the point when he needs to put up or shut up and come through on his promise to leave his wife for the younger model: he reassures Barbara but we’re not convinced especially as he has two daughters and particularly given the look of sheepish duplicity on his face as he cuddles his lover – physical contact substituting for emotional honesty.

Bruce looks sheepishly at the emotionally-honest Barbara

Meanwhile the two men have been climbing all of the stairs in the building to reach the top… the lift is either broken or not part of the fun and the building is empty save for those two at the top. One of the men, Tom (Tony Beckley) knocks on the door and tells Barbara that he’s come to read the meter. Now we don’t think Tom is a meter man, especially as he seems oddly selective in the rooms he checks and, more importantly, hasn’t bought his pencil. He wanders round the flat, not really looking and commenting, rather inappropriately, about the man he finds in Barbara’s bed.

Tom’s strangeness is only the half of it as Dick (Norman Rodway) arrives and, in addition to being very good at meter reading, also may have that elusive pencil… There’s also a “Harry” of course, who is waiting in the van or some such.

The meter man arrives and sharpens his pencil

Rodway and Beckley are superbly accomplished maniacs it has to be said and work on an off-beat relationship to reality and each other right from the start.

At first Barbara and Bruce just think them fools and respond in the way you would to two children but when Tom starts sharpening his pencil with a large pen-knife, the pennies begin to drop. We’re not sure what the two interlopers want either, theft would be too simple and nowhere near unsettling enough… no, they are here for something far worse: a good time.

The penny drops...

Dilly-dallying out of the way, Bruce is tied to a chair and Barbara is forced to drink a pint of whiskey as a “party” is prepared… the threat is fleeting and ever-present and both take turns in soliloquising their increasingly terrified/intoxicated hosts. Tom tells a potentially revealing tale about pet crocodiles surviving after being flushed down so many indifferent toilets by uncaring owners; it’s an urban legend that was strong in the seventies and probably says nothing about their motivations.

The "party" gets underway...

Barbara is now so lost in liquor and well-rolled joints that she will do anything she’s told, first with Tom and then with Dick whilst, horribly, Bruce is left helpless being ranted at by the other.

It’s at this point you wonder how things can possibly end and, in fairness, so do Tom and Dick. How can they leave after making such a scene and expect B&B to not tell the Police? Bruce, by now showing a weaker character than his lover, swears he won’t whilst Barbara is honest enough to say she doesn’t know.

Under pressure

Logically there cannot be any escape from these men but then, as suddenly as they arrived they’ve gone… is that it? As Barbara and Bruce look at each other with new eyes there’s a knock on the door and it’s Harry (Martine Beswick)… apparently the boys’ probation officer…

Barbara, Bruce, Harry, Tom and Dick

Dusty Verdict: The Penthouse is challenging and occasionally harrowing viewing that touches our deepest fears about loss of control and home invasions. It has the feel of more coherent work from Harold Pinter or Samuel Beckett and it would be interesting to see the original play and whether it was more overtly political.

Suzy Kendall

Suzy Kendall does very well as the women wronged by all the men in the story whilst Rodway and Beckley steal the show with their nervous, stage-honed theatricality…. You really wouldn’t want to meet these two on a dark stairwell let alone pushing in to check your meter reading.

The film is now very hard to find but in the right mood – buoyant, optimistic, sunny day all round… it’s worth seeking out!

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