The Secret Place (film)


The Secret Place is a 1957 British crime film that was the directorial debut of Clive Donner. It stars Belinda Lee, Ronald Lewis, and David McCallum in a supporting role.

Plot

Crime melodrama set in the badly bombed London after the war. A diamond robbery is carried out by small-time crooks, and an adolescent boy finds himself unwittingly caught up after discovering they have hidden the loot in his home.
In East London, young Freddie Haywood has a crush on kiosk attendant Molly Wilson, who is engaged to Gerry Garter. Gerry is a member of a criminal gang working from a car dealership where Molly's brother Mike works. Gerry, Mike and their friend, Steve, are planning a diamond robbery for which they need a policeman's uniform. On instructions from Gerry, Molly asks Freddie to borrow the uniform of his policeman father. After the robbery of a Hatton Garden jewellers, Gerry hides the diamonds inside Molly's record player. Not knowing this, Molly gives the player to Freddie as a thank you gift. Freddie discovers the diamonds and the gang go after him.

Cast

Filming took place at Pinewood Studios in November 1956. It was Donner's first feature as director.

Reception

Variety called it "moderately entertaining."
The British Film Institute praised the "remarkable debut screenplay by Linette Perry, which manages to intertwine the generic conventions of the heist thriller with a simple, but poetic, moral drama. In Perry's world the secret places stretch beyond the physical – the record player, gang hideouts and derelict buildings – into the hearts of the young protagonists. Faced with opportunity and misguided by love, the characters are all confronted with their own buried selfishness."