Taglines: We promise… You will be trapped in an endless nightmare that would terrify even Hitchcock!
And Soon the Darkness movie storyline. Jane and Cathy, two English women in their early twenties, are on a cycling tour. While traveling in rural France, they begin to disagree about the route. Cathy would prefer to take things in at a leisurely pace, while Jane is trying to stick to strict schedule. After arguing, they part ways. When her friend fails to rejoin her, Jane begins to worry and returns to the last place she saw her. Cathy has vanished. Alone and with a limited knowledge of French, Jane doesn’t know who to trust as she frantically searches for her missing friend.
And Soon the Darkness is a 1970 British thriller film directed by Robert Fuest and starring Pamela Franklin, Michele Dotrice, Sandor Elès, John Nettleton, Clare Kelly, Hana Maria Pravda, John Franklyn, Claude Bertrand, Jean Carmet and André Maranne. The plot follows two British nurses on a cycling holiday in rural France; during their trip, one of them vanishes, and the other struggles to search for her in a rural community.
The film did moderately well at the box-office on both sides of the Atlantic, but was not a big success. Clemens was involved in producing and storyboarding the film, and said it inspired him to try directing. He later commented, “My business partner (Albert Fennell) said ‘You should have directed it’ and suddenly I thought ‘Yeah, perhaps I should have done’. I knew I could have directed it better.” He went on to write what became See No Evil for Forbes at EMI; after Forbes left the company the film was made at Columbia. Clemens eventually turned director with Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter.
About the Story
Jane and Cathy are two young nurses from Nottingham who are taking a cycling holiday through rural France. While having lunch at a busy restaurant, Cathy notices a handsome man drinking alone at an adjacent table. Shortly after the women depart, the man also leaves the cafe on a Lambretta scooter. On a country road surrounded by farmland, the women are passed by the man on his scooter. Several minutes later, the women pass by him as he rests by a cemetery.
As the women pass through a small village, they encounter the man again. Cathy, who has grown tired of cycling, decides she wants to sunbathe, and stops at a wooded area along the road. Jane agrees to rest momentarily, but the two women get into an argument over the trip itinerary, and Jane decides to continue on alone. Jane soon arrives at a rural roadside cafe, where the proprietor, Madame Lassal, warns her that the area is dangerous and that she should not be travelling alone. Meanwhile, Cathy, still sunbathing, becomes unnerved and senses she is being watched. Upon trying to leave, she finds that someone has destroyed the wheel of her bicycle. Moments later, she is confronted by an unseen assailant.
Feeling guilty over leaving Cathy behind, Jane returns to the spot where she was sunbathing. She finds no sign of Cathy, apart from her camera lying in the grass. Moments later, the man the women saw earlier at the restaurant stops along the road on his scooter. He introduces himself as Paul, and Jane explains to him that she is looking for Cathy. Paul offers Jane a ride back to the village, where she believes Cathy may have gone. While questioning locals in town, Jane learns of an unsolved rape and murder of a young woman that occurred in the town the year before. Meanwhile, Paul rides into the woods on his scooter to search for Cathy.
Jane encounters a British schoolmistress in town who drives her part-way to meet the gendarme and report Cathy’s disappearance. En route, the schoolmistress tells Jane the unsolved murder occurred in the same wooded area from which Cathy vanished. Unable to locate the gendarme, Jane returns to the roadside cafe and asks Madam Lassal for help, but she again urges Jane to leave the area. Jane again encounters Paul, who reveals he is a private investigator who researched the case of the murdered woman. The two get into an argument when Jane discovers Paul has taken the film from Cathy’s camera as evidence. Convinced he has hurt Cathy, Jane parts ways with him.
Running through the town on foot, Jane finally locates the residence of the gendarme, and explains what has occurred. The gendarme goes to investigate the scene, leaving Jane alone at his residence. Paul arrives at the house, but Jane refuses to open the door. When he breaks into the gendarme’s home, Jane flees into the woods, where she stumbles upon an abandoned trailer park.
While hiding in a camper, Jane finds Cathy’s corpse. Paul manages to corner Jane in the woods, but she beats him in the face with a rock. At the edge of the abandoned trailer park, Jane finds the gendarme. As she embraces him, the gendarme begins to fondle her sexually. He begins to attack her, revealing himself to be the perpetrator. Jane attempts to fend him off, and is rescued by an injured Paul, who hits the gendarme with a large branch.
And Soon the Darkness (1970)
Directed by: Robert Fuest
Starring: Pamela Franklin, Michele Dotrice, Sandor Elès, John Nettleton, Clare Kelly, Hana Maria Pravda, John Franklyn, Claude Bertrand, Jean Carmet, André Maranne
Screenplay by: Brian Clemens, Terry Nation
Cinematography by: Ian Wilson
Film Editing by: Ann Chegwidden
Makeup Department: Gerry Fletcher, Allan McKeown
Music by: Laurie Johnson
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Warner-Pathé
Release Date: July 4, 1970
Visits: 148