The Black Rider (1954)

User Rating:

4.5/10   

Director:

Wolf Rilla

Writer:

A.R. Rawlinson (writer)

Release Date:

December 1954 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Thriller

Plot:

When young reporter and amateur biker Jerry Marsh investigates a mysterious hooded figure on a motorbike...

Plot Keywords:

Motorcycle

Cast

Jimmy Hanley	...	Jerry Marsh
Rona Anderson	...	Mary Plack
Leslie Dwyer	...	Robert Plack
Lionel Jeffries	...	Martin Bremner
Beatrice Varley	...	Mrs. Marsh
Michael Golden	...	Rakoff
Valerie Hanson	...	Karen
Vincent Ball	...	Ted Lintott
Edwin Richfield	...	Geoff Morgan
Kenneth Connor	...	George Amble
Robert Rietty	...	Mario
James Raglan	...	Rackton
Frank Atkinson	...	Landlord
Edie Martin	...	Elderly Lady
Peter Swanwick	...	Holiday-maker

Runtime:

65 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:U

Filming Locations:

Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Balblair Productions

Quotes:

Mary Plack: [When her son rides off with Plack's daughter on his new motorcycle] We shall never see them alive again. They'll be brought home in an ambulance.
Robert Plack: Well they needn't expect to see me at the funeral!

"There's something fishy going on at Brocken Castle"

This sturdy British B-picture features a plot right out of Enid Blyton or Scooby-Doo. A gang of crooks, bent on smuggling "atomic sabotage equipment" into the country (crumbs!), are using the legend of the Black Rider to scare people away from crumbling Brocken Castle, where they have a secret headquarters in the dungeons. Gosh!

The film is best enjoyed for its view of the vanished innocence of 50s Britain. This is a place where smiling librarians select handpicked novels for little old ladies, where the teapot is always full, where the harmless village drunk (Kenneth Connor) is plied with booze by indulgent locals and where the local youths are too busy fixing their motorbikes to bother with vandalising the bus shelter. No Hells Angels these - they are all clean-cut and impeccably polite, trundling along the leafy lanes at a sedate 25 mph or participating in motorised egg-and-spoon races at the village fete.

Jimmy Hanley and Rona Anderson make a charming hero and heroine, Lionel Jeffries is good as the urbane villain and there' s a jolly, infuriatingly catchy theme tune. Nobody gets killed and even Hanley's irascible employer and future father-in-law turns out to be a decent cove at the end, even buying his own motorcycle and sidecar combination for some exhilarating spins with the missus. Somehow I doubt if Quentin Tarantino will be doing a remake.