The Dark Road – 1948

Exclusive Films Presents, a Marylebone-Hammer Production

Black & White 67 minutes

Storyline

A cheap fiction writer is commissioned to write a crime story which deals with a young boy’s gradual decline through lack of parental control.

Crew


Function	Credited	Age at Release	Birth	Death	Age	Hammer Productions
						Credited	Uncredited	Total
Art Direction	James Marchant					3		3
Camera Operator	Reg Selley					1		1
Director	Alfred Goulding	64	26 Jan 1884	25 Apr 1972	88	2		2
Director of Photog.	Stanley Clinton MBKS	41	1 Jan 1907			4	1	5
Make-up	Harry Duvo					1		1
Music	John Bath	33	2 Jul 1915	23 Sep 2004	89	2		2
Producer	Henry Halsted	41	1 Jan 1907	10 Mar 1970	63	4		4
Uncredited
Ast. Director	Eric Veendam	45	1903	1970	67	1	1	2
Sound	Dick Farge						1	1
Sound	Charles Hasher					1	1	2

Cast


Character	Actor	Age at Release	Birth	Death	Age	Hammer Productions
	Click a link for more info					Credited	Uncredited	Total
Adele	Joanna Carter					1		1
Andy Anderson	Michael Ripper	34	27 Jan 1913	28 Jun 2000	87	34	2	36
Anne	Joyce Linden	24	25 Aug 1923	2002	78	2		2
Ashcroft	MacKenzie Ward	44	20 Feb 1903	Jan 1976	72	1	1	2
Detective	Frank Forsyth	42	19 Dec 1905	2 May 1984	78	3	2	5
Mr Jones	David Keir	63	7 Feb 1884	30 Oct 1971	87	2	1	3
Nick Allen	Farnham Baxter					1	1	2
PC Davidson	Rory McDermot	34	20 Dec 1913	7 Jul 1980	66	1		1
Professor Corkew	Sydney Bromley	38	24 Jul 1909	14 Aug 1987	78	5		5
Sidney Robertson	Charles Stuart					1		1
The Chaplin	Roddy Hughes	56	19 Jun 1891	22 Feb 1970	78	1		1
The Editor	Cyril Chamberlain	38	8 Mar 1909	30 Apr 1974	65	1	1	2
With	Anthony Holles	46	17 Jan 1901	5 Mar 1950	49	1		1
With	Gale Douglas					1		1
With	Gerald Pring	59	16 Mar 1888	21 Oct 1970	82	1		1
With	Patricia Hicks	28	10 Jun 1919	25 May 2011	91	1		1
With	Roy Russell	55	1893	13 Jan 1958	65	1		1
With	Veronica Rose	36	8 Jul 1911	25 Jan 1968	56	2		2
Uncredited
Baliff	Joe Phelps						7	7
Detective	Bill Rayment						2	2
Inmate at Dartmore Prison	Lindsay Hooper						9	9
Jewell Buyer	Howard Douglas	51	12 Jan 1896	1973	76	1	1	2
Nightclub Dancer	Fred Davis	11	1 Sep 1936	26 Oct 1988	52		4	4
Police Inspector	Robert Brooks-Turner	65	28 Aug 1882	1963	80	1	2	3
With	Maxine Taylor						1	1
With	Sefton Yates						1	1
With	Hay Petrie	52	16 Jul 1895	30 Jul 1948	53		1	1
With	Peter Reynolds	26	16 Aug 1921	21 Apr 1975	53	1	1	2

Production


FILMING BEGAN	February 1948
UK RELEASE	1 October 1948
STUDIO	Marylebone Studios, Marylebone, London, England

LOCATION	Gilston Park, Hertfordshire, England
	Blackpool, Lancashire, England

Footnotes

This was Michael Ripper’s first film for Hammer. As Hammer’s most prolific actor, he went on to appear in 34 of their productions.

The film was based on the career of criminal Stanley Thurston, who appeared in the cast as a character based on himself. Thurston was famous for his numerous escapes from prison, 5 times in 15 years. He was released from prison in October 1946. The film had trouble with the British censors who thought the film glamorised a real life criminal. Thurston had to be billed as “Charles Stuart.”

Details were complied viewing the actual film.
Source of viewing copy – The Hammer Graveyard Collection