Watch Witness in the Dark For Free

Fresh and Exciting

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A young blind girl called Jane Pringle (Patricia Dainton) is the police's only witness to the murder of her elderly friend and neignbour, Mrs Temple (Enid Lorimer), who was killed for her emerald broach worth £2000. But, when he ransacked the house, the killer (Nigel Green) was unsuccessful in finding the hiding place where she kept it. Later Jane's nosy neighbour, Mrs Finch (Madge Ryan), lets it slip in the local pub that Mrs Temple had left her the broach - yes, you've guessed it! - the killer overheard placing Jane's life in grave peril since he is determined to get it...Viewers will undoubtedly make some comparisons with the classic Audrey Hepburn thriller Wait Until Dark, but this low budget British 'B' does not succeed in being as terrifying and suspenseful as that film. Nigel Green, although a fine actor whom I admired greatly when he played Nayland Smith in The Face Of Fu Manchu, to my mind seems uncomfortably cast as the murderer and cannot quite convey the sense of evil, menace and mystery about his role to be convincing. Patricia Dainton, however, steals the film with her strong performance as the blind woman who battles with her blindness with great courage in order to help Inspector Coates (Conrad Philips) bring her friend's murderer to justice. The chemistry between her and the latter is a highlight in the picture because, to begin with, he is not quite sure how to deal with her and makes her angry when she feels he is pitying her and viewing her as a nuisance. Later, however, he comes to admire her "guts" and how she comes to terms with having been right in front of a murderer on a dark staircase and feeling guilty about not being able to see him due to her blindness. At the climax, the inspector presents her with a security chain for her front door as a gift, and as the end credits role, she bins it - not out of ingratitude, but because she has overcome her fears. Madge Ryan also deserves a mention for her performance as the interfering and nosy neighbour, Mrs Finch, who inadvertently brought about the tragic events through her gossiping in the pub about the valuable broach.Overall, while the film never succeeds in racking up the suspense and tension to very high levels, it is made worthwhile by some good characterisation and Patricia Dainton's strong performance and director Wolf Rilla manages one or two mildly spooky moments too.This film is regularly shown on Talking Pictures TV and has been available on DVD paired with Terence Fisher's excellent support feature The Flaw.

It's not the length of the film but how effective it is to the viewer."Witness in the Dark" is no exception and is a classic Briish cast "B" feature such as one saw in the 1950s along with Pathe News, a Cartoon and of course the big feature film.I am 70 years old and can well remember going to the cinema then to see the aforementioned full programme.Nigel Green who played "The Intruder" in this film, I remember playing a patient recovering from a broken arm in the 1956 film "Reach for the Sky" who accompanied Douglas Bader (Kenneth More) to a cafeteria with another recovering R.A.F. pilot (Jack Watling) in a 20s Bentley.The subject film is a cracking thriller, well written, well cast and well directed which held my attention.There is a hint at the end that the police inspector may have had amatory intentions on Patricia Dainton's character.We want her to have a happy life after losing her fiancé and her sight in a car accident in France 5 years before.A Good production with minimal cost, I rated it 7/10.

This is a neat little thriller which stars Conrad Phillips who published his biography on the net.It features Patricia Dainton as a blind girl who passes the killer on the stairs but is of course unable to recognise him.Nigel Green is the killer,his identity is not cloaked.Green is very effective in this role.He had a reasonable career but sadly he committed suicide at an early age.The film dwells on the predicament of the blind girl.She is used as bait to trap the killer when he is drawn to visit her in the bogus guise of a newspaper photographer.Films such as this supported the big spectacular from Hollywood,however if truth be told they were often better than the film's they supported.

I enjoyed this little UK thriller, a very short one - 62mn. Not an action packed, shot only indoors, two or three sets, perhaps four.No many characters, but very effective.The tale of a blind girl who, by accident, crosses the path of a thief turned killer, who have just murdered the upper flat neighbour - and friend - of the same blind girl.Of course, there is a police investigation. Cops searching traces of the killer, and asking for help of the blind girl.i won't say that's a fascinating movie but, unlikely many others of this kind, it's not boring at all. We expect a love affair between the detective in charge of the case and the blind girl; but it seems that we an still wait for it...I'll put it between Blink and Blind Terror, and perhaps Jennifer Eight. But don't remember if this latest film is about a blind girl...SorryWolf Rilla directed Village of the Damned just after this one. And some years later, he made a remake of Asphalt Jungle: "Cairo".