And Soon the Darkness (1970) UK International 1 Sheet Poster #New

A film that could have been called And Soon the Brightness, for very rarely has drama and tension been rooted in such a brightly lit landscape - in this case, rural France. Two young English girls are on a cycling holiday in a region even the locals admit has a bad reputation. And when one of them disappears, the landscape, language barriers and general mistrust of foreigners all conspire to place the remaining girl in deeper danger. 

It's the fabulous wide shots that stay in the memory, as Pamela Franklin and Michele Dotrice sedately cycle through avenues, past dilapidated farmhouses, cemeteries and fields that seem to grow nothing. All the while, the sun beats down. Well worth seeing on the biggest screen you can find. It was very much an Avengers-style production - in fact the entire premise resembles one of their opening teasers. Written by Brian Clemens and Terry (Daleks) Nation, scored by Laurie Johnson, produced by Albert Fennell and directed by Robert Fuest, (all of whom were key members of The Avengers) it still holds up as one of the best of Head of EMI Bryan Forbes's group of films shot at Elstree, designed to reinvigorate the British film industry. 

Condition: VERY FINE / NEAR MINT

Cast: Sandor Elès, John Nettleton, Clare Kelly, John Franklyn and Hana Maria Pravda, a great Prague-born actress in pre-war Hungarian films, thereafter mainly on British TV - Dan Curtis' Dracula (1974) and the first (and best) season of Terry Nation's grim Survivors (1975 - 1977)