Never Take Sweets from a Stranger

1960

1h 21m

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

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2 Videos

24 Images

Drama

Mystery

Thriller

Peter Carter, his wife Sally and their young daughter Jean move to a sleepy Canadian village, where Peter has been hired as a school principal. Their idyll is shattered when Jean becomes the victim of an elderly, and extremely powerful, paedophile. The film was neither a box office nor a critical success, it garnered criticism for breaking a significant public taboo.

Directors

Cyril Frankel

Writers

Roger Garis(theatre play by)

John Hunter(screenplay by)

Stars

Patrick Allen

Gwen Watford

Janina Faye

See production, box office & company info

Videos2

Trailer
Watch Never Take Candy from a Stranger (1960 Trailer)
Featurette
Watch Brian Trenchard-Smith on NEVER TAKE CANDY FROM A STRANGER

Photos24

Top cast

Peter Carter

Sally Carter

Jean Carter

Clarence Olderberry Sr.

Defense Counsel

Prosecutor

Martha

Clarence Olderberry Jr.

Judge

Eunice Kalliduke

Tom Demarest

Lucille

Hammond

Sylvia Kingsley

Neal Phillips

Mrs. Demarest

Dr. Stevens

Mrs. Olderberry

Directors

Cyril Frankel

Writers

Roger Garis(theatre play by)

John Hunter(screenplay by)

All cast & crew

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User reviews1

Review

Featured review

8/10

I don't know who's more dangerous, you or your father? Never Take Sweets from a Stranger is directed by Cyril Frankel and written by John Hunter who adapts from the play Pony Cart written by Roger Garis. It stars Patrick Allen, Gwen Watford, Janina Faye, Felix Aylmer, Michael Gwynn, Alison Leggatt and Niall MacGinnis. Music is by Elisabeth Lutyns and John Hollingsworth and Megascope cinematography by Freddie Francis. British family the Carter's have emigrated to small town Canada and are rocked when it is revealed that 9 year old Jean (Faye), and her friend Lucille (Frances Green), were asked to dance naked for candy at the home of elderly Clarence Olderberry Senior. Filing an official complaint, parents Peter (Allen) & Sally (Watford) are astounded to find the town's denizens are reluctant to believe the Carter's take on things. It becomes apparent that the Olderberry family were instrumental in the building of the town and the family has much power within it. With the town closing ranks on the British outsiders, there's a real chance that a suspected paedophile will go unpunished and maybe strike again? Thought provoking and intelligent handling of sensitive material, Hammer's Never Take Sweets from a Stranger has finally garnered the credit it deserves. Back on release the taboo subject of the plot ensured the film was mostly shunned, with bad marketing also proving to be a hindrance. However, it is ahead of its time in many ways, Frankel's (School for Scoundrels) picture manages to gnaw away at the senses with its calm and measured approach work. Francis' (The Innocents) black and white photography a clinical ally to the realism wrung out by Frankel. The alienation of the Carter family is steadily built up, the small town mentality to strangers in their little world unspools calmly by way of credible acting and believable passages of dialogue. By the time the last third arrives, the frustration of the Carter's is shared by the viewers, things get legal and gripping, and then it's the uncoiling of the spring to unleash the denouement. Point made, a message movie of some standing, monsters in our midst indeed. Not merely the predators preying on our children, but also the guilty around them, ignorance most definitely isn't bliss. 8.5/10

John Chard21 Jul, 2019