Turn the Key Softly (1954)

A Disappointing Continuation

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

I awarded this film 7/10 and am sad that none of the heritage vintage film TV channels have not seen fit to transmit this superb b&w film.For someone like me born in 1946 the scenes of early 1950s London have a resonance as I can remember the old cars Britain used to manufacture like the "Riley", tube trains with air vents at the side, police officers with helmets standing on street corners and of course the prices of commodities pre-inflation.The users above have satisfactorily described the plot.Each of the gaol-birds are tempted upon their release to re-offend and part of the interest is seeing how they deal with temptation as it comes their way, whether to take up again with her criminal boyfriend (Yvonne Mitchell), whether to carry on being a Soho prostitute (Joan Collins) or hope to establish normal family relations and curtail her shoplifting habit (Kathleen Harrison).The most poignant scene for me was when Kathleen Harrison is run over and killed while her beloved dog "Johnie" then walks the streets alone and owner-less.Yvonne Mitchell her gaol-bird colleague then becomes "Johnie's" new owner after her worthless ex-boyfriend (Terence Morgan) gets his just deserts.This was a well produced and directed film which should be seen more often on t.v.Do today's film t.v.channels think it would not attract remunerative advertising revenue to air gems like this?I am obviously not in the target socio-economic advertising group at 69 years of age!

I loved this movie! The three women destinies in a large metropolis (London -1950s) after they come out of jail with very different expectations seems to be quite an usual storyline in those years. London itself --as any large city-- looks completely different from the present London, although through this gloriously misty black and white photography it has a nostalgic Memory Lane feeling absolutely unique.One wishes to have been able to walk those streets and feel that particular atmosphere, completely gone by now.The film: It's so very well acted and edited that when it comes to the end, it seems to have only lasted for ten or fifteen minutes. The three women stories are quite banal but engaging because they are displayed alternately so we get to know these characters one by one and at the same time, since they run parallel lives and will keep in touch through different daily happenings.The beauty and sex appeal of a young Joan Collins was something to be seen. She was gorgeous! specially at the beginning, when still in jail and without any noticeable make up, she was stunning. As stunning as Joan, but on a different level was Yvonne Mitchell, a sedated beauty, classy and cool, very elegant and certainly as grand as any titled lady (many titled ladies will kill their grandmothers if they could look like her).The sequence on top of the building with the intervening police was quite nerve wreaking and superbly filmed and edited. The scenes with the old lady --Kathleen Harrison-- and her beloved dog, Johnny, were the sentimental segment that cemented the different episodes among these three women.There is a crucial scene where the title "Turn the key softly" makes sense because it was dependent on that, that one of the protagonists could escape a cruel and unjust outcome. Even if nowadays the strings pulled in this movie to keep one interested in the story telling are too obvious, the film doesn't fail in entertaining one from beginning to end.

Beautifully photographed by Geoffrey Unsworth and imaginatively directed by Jack Lee, this splendidly acted drama is a triumph for all concerned. Production values, including a marvelously staged action climax, are absolutely first class. Admittedly, some may find the music score by Mischa Spoliansky a little too sentimental for film noir, but I thought it totally appropriate. Directing 2nd units on actual locations was a Jack Lee specialty, so it comes as no surprise here to see real locations employed to such advantage. Film editor Lito Carruthers has also done a marvelous job. The editing is as taut as a circus high wire. Lito was born in Greece, but came to England as a child. Educated at the Convent of Sion, she joined the film industry as an assistant in the London production office for Fire Over England (1937). During the Second World War, she served her apprenticeship in the cutting rooms of Ealing Studios, where she cut her first picture, a 45-minute documentary, very appropriately Greek Testament (1942), under the editorial supervision of director Charles Hasse. Beginning with Old Mother Riley Overseas in 1943. Lito edited 26 movies between 1943 and 1960, finishing up with Too Hot To Handle in 1960. I don't know what happened after that. Whether she retired, died, got married? It would be nice to know. She was a really top film editor. First rank.

Rather cliched plot, but some nice period detail, if your interested in old film of London, youll really enjoy this tearjerking melodrama. A very young Joan Collins is adorable as the easily led West End girl Stella. Plenty of other classic British Movie faces too.