Tread Softly Stranger

1959 "A Stark Drama Filmed Against the Turbulent FIERY Background of Steel"
6.7| 1h30m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 01 September 1959 Released
Producted By: George Minter Productions
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Unable to pay his bookie, a man returns to his hometown where his embezzler brother and girlfriend plot a robbery that ends in tragedy.

Genre

Drama, Crime

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Director

Gordon Parry

Production Companies

George Minter Productions

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Tread Softly Stranger Audience Reviews

Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.
ShangLuda Admirable film.
Connianatu How wonderful it is to see this fine actress carry a film and carry it so beautifully.
Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Dave This is a film noir crime drama about a slutty femme fatale who manipulates her partner and his brother into committing a robbery at her partner's workplace. The story is good, as is the acting. However, the lack of Yorkshire accents in characters who are from working-class / underclass backgrounds is a major flaw. It's unbelievable that Diana Dors' very glamorous character would choose to live in poverty with a man whom she's not fond of.There's no indication of how the film's title relates to the events and characters within it.
Martin Bradley Probably the only good thing you can say about this British crime movie is that it makes excellent use of its North of England locations, (it was filmed mostly in Rotherham), and has some good, atmospheric photography by the great Douglas Slocombe. Otherwise, it's pretty terrible as femme fatale Diana Dors, (far from her finest hour), urges down-on-their-luck brothers George Baker and Terence Morgan to robbery and murder. It is atrociously scripted (by producer George Minter and Denis O'Dell from a play by Jack Popplewell), directed (by Gordon Parry) and acted (by the entire cast)and has largely been forgotten. It should have stayed that way.
howardmorley I consider that this title is the late Diana Dors best film and I have quite a few in my DVD collection.Produced in 1958 when she was at her peak she has a memorable scene when she recounts her lowly slum- like upbringing to George Baker of how she made her way "out of the gutter up onto the pavement".It reminded me of an Oscar Wilde quote by Lord Darlington from "Lady Windermere's Fan" "...some of us may be in the gutter but we are looking up at the stars".1958 was the year that the wonderful "A Night to Remember" was made and I spotted three actors from that film in "Tread Softly Stranger", namely Joseph Tomelty" (Joe Ryan) as Dr. O'Loughlin, Russell Napier (Potter) as Capt. Stanley Lord and Thomas Heathcote (Sgt. Lamb) as a 1st class smoking room steward.Diana was well supported by Terence Morgan and George Baker and I disagree with a previous reviewer, it did not have an Anglicized/American script - I checked the nationality of the two scriptwriters James George Minter/Denis O'Dell before writing this review.The film also had an authentic bleak northern industrial landscape.Remember also we have many Irish people working in our country.When George Baker burnt the stolen money and flushed the embers down the sewer and disposed of the revolver I thought the brothers may have succeeded in their robbery, but of course the censor stepped in like they did in the 1950s to ensure we citizens kept on the straight and narrow.Overall I rated it excellent and it kept my interest all through and I rated it 8/10
lucyrfisher The script is unremarkable and the direction leaden. But it's worth watching for the setting in a genuine industrial town – not just for the factories spewing smoke (which are no doubt now "heritage centres", art galleries and yuppie flats if they haven't been levelled), but for the shabby rooming house where the brothers and Diana live. The Victorian decor and furniture is still there 50 years later. You can't tell from this film that George Baker is a good actor, and Diana isn't asked to do much more than pose around (but she looks gorgeous and I love her clothes, apart from those embarrassing shorts she makes her first appearance (just) in). But I can't help feeling this is an American script transferred to Britain. I'm sure "up north" didn't have hostess clubs in the 50s, or so many Irish people: the nightwatchman, his son Paddy and the landlady are all Irish. In fact no one has a northern accent, and Paddy's girlfriend has a ridiculously posh English accent that is probably dubbed on. The plot is the same old "We've got a suit-case full of money but it's no use to us, we'd better burn it/put it down the toilet/let it blow away in the wind."