The Dark Man

The 1951 film The Dark Man was shown recently on Talking Pictures TV and it features several places around Rye, although not the town itself. The film stars Maxwell Reed as a murderer being trailed by Scotland Yard’s Inspector Viner, played by Edward Underdown. Natasha Parry is Molly, an actress who unwittingly witnesses the villain and so is targeted as his next victim.

The opening scenes are of the seafront at Hastings, the town standing in for the fictional location of Walsham Bay. The storyline involves a romance that develops at Camber Castle and some slightly sinister action on the coast at what appears to be Winchelsea Beach or Pett Level. There are also scenes filmed in Winchelsea including Friar’s Road and St Thomas’s Street where, according to the film location website Reel Streets, Glebe Cottage stands in for the film’s “Clematis Cottage”.

A lot of the action takes place in Hastings and St Leonards at a time when trolleybuses still operated. You can spot a sign for the London Trader pub, advertising its sale of Maidstone’s Fremin ales with the distinctive elephant logo. There are also shots of Hastings pier before it was damaged by storms and fire. Later, following a kidnap foiled by an unexpected level crossing barrier, the action moves to the army ranges at Lydd. The final scenes feature the lighthouse, railway station and some cottages at Dungeness, described in promotional posters at the time as “one of Britain’s forbidden areas…”.

Talking Pictures TV (on Freeview and Youview channel 82, Freestat 306, Sky channel 328 and Virgin 445) has been unable to confirm when, or indeed if, the film will be broadcast again. However, anyone wishing to see the film can borrow a copy of the DVD from Rye News.

Image Credits: Tony McLaughlin .