Turn The Key Softly (1953) Woman's Noir

Directed entertainingly well by Jack Lee. A chick flick Noir.

Written by Lee and producer Maurice Cowan and based on the novel of the same name by John Brophy. It's the tale of the first 24 hours in the lives of three female prisoners released from Holloway Prison in London. The excellent cinematography was by Geoffrey Unsworth the music by was by Mischa Spoliansky

The film stars Yvonne Mitchell (Sapphire 1959), Joan Collins, Kathleen Harrison and Terence Morgan. Yvonne Mitchell is Monica Marsden the upper middle class gal pal of a second story man a burglar and safe cracker, She went to prison for not ratting him out and for something she didn't do. Joan Collins plays a "B" girl and maybe prostitute, Stella Jarvis, but it's never revealed in the film. She has a bus driver boyfriend who promises to marry her when she gets out. Kathleen Harrison plays the part of a sweet granny, Granny Quilliam, who is a sort of kleptomaniac shoplifter she reminds me a bit of Thelma Ritter's performance in Pickup On South Street. Granny's only true friend in life is her dog Johnny. Terrance Morgan is the suave safe cracker.

Lt to rt. Joan Collins, Yvonne Mitchell, and  Kathleen Harrison

the warden

Holloway Prison

We follow the three women's lives concurrently, switching back and forth between the leads. Stella is met by her boyfriend outside the gate. Monica and Granny head to a tube station for their respective destinations. Monica to her sisters place, Granny to her old apartment flat in the neighbourhood of Shepherd's Bush. On the tube train Granny notices that Monica is attracting the attention of men. One of the men George Jenkins (Russell Waters) asks Monica for a date.

Monica meets her sister and begins a quest for a job. Stella with money given to her by her fiance, instead of getting a temporary flat to live in, visits her prostitute friends in Leicester Square and buys a pair of gaudy earrings. Granny is reunited with her dog Johnny.

There is both pathos and hope in Noirsville as each of the women's lives as their tale unfolds.

Noirsville

Some great action sequences during a rooftop chase. Wonderful images of 1950s London. 8/10

Turn The Key Softly is a part of  Great British Movies - Film Noir [DVD] along with 21 Days, Sapphire, So Long At The Fair, and Turn the Key Softly.




PS - You'll need a third party converted region free DVD player to watch these in the U.S.