Kill Her Gently
Kill Her Gently
NR | 01 October 1958 (USA)
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A motorist picks up to escaped convicts. Instead of turning them over to the police he hires them to kill his wife.

Reviews
Hayden Kane

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

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Donald Seymour

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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Scarlet

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

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Caryl

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

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Prismark10

Kill Her Gently is a sub Hitchcockian British B thriller starring American Marc Lawrence who had escaped to Europe after being blacklisted for his political views in the 1950s.Two convicts break out of prison. Connors is an American and Svenson is a Swede. While on the run they are picked up by a motorist, Martin who realises who they are but helps them pass a police road block. Martin makes the a proposition to the fugitive. He will help them leave the country if in return they will kill his wife.It looks like Martin is more deranged than the convicts who has suffered a mental breakdown for which his wife had him sectioned and who also thinks she might be having an affair.Most of the film is set in the couple's home as Martin initially comes across as a victim with his wife. However the convicts become reluctant carrying out his task especially Svenson.This is a tight, short thriller but with a very rushed ending. Marc Lawrence impresses as a tough guy with a looming conscious. Griffith Jones is also memorable as the conniving, cunning and desperate husband who wants to punish his wife for having him incarcerated.

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malcolmgsw

The makers of this film clearly wanted to cast this film so that they could get distribution both in America and Europe.What else can explain the the strange casting of the convicts.Nevertheless this is quite a reasonable British film noir,with plenty of bodies scattered around.Though you have to get through one major implausibility.The police blockade not looking to see the 2 passengers in the car with Griffiths Jones.Jones depiction of his growing insanity seems to depend on him being lathered in sweat and his eyes becoming rather more prominent.One would have thought that his rather strange behaviour would have given a clue to people.As usual the police only get there in the end to mop up the pieces.

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ackstasis

Two convicts (Marc Lawrence and George Mikell) escape from prison and hitch a ride with Jeff Martin (Griffith Jones). Jeff recognises the two men from their police descriptions, but he doesn't turn them in. Instead, he has another use for them – and a wife (Maureen Connell) whom he no longer requires. Clocking in at 73 minutes, this taut thriller (whose basic plot is vaguely reminiscent of the Coen Brothers' 'Fargo (1996)') largely takes place in the cramped confines of a country home. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the story is that the criminals themselves are far less deranged and dangerous than Jeff, the husband, who approaches his scheme with the cool, detached air of a psychopath. The best performance comes from Marc Lawrence (a prolific character actor who cropped up in 'The Asphalt Jungle (1950),' among other films), playing a sleazy, hardened convict who nevertheless reveals a streak of humanity.

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reader4

I guess the only reason this movie is not a well-beloved classic is that it was not made in Hollywood, is filmed in black-and-white, came from a minor studio and is full of unknowns. I also don't understand why so many people who watched its TCM debut rated it so low. It is definitely the best movie I saw during their entire "detectives" month.The film starts out with Connors, an American, and Svenson, a Swede, escaping from prison. They are picked up hitchhiking by Jeff Martin. They become suspicious, though, when Martin gets them through a police roadblock, covering for them by claiming they are some friends of his that he has brought back from London to the rural area where the story transpires.It turns out Martin has plans for them. He makes a bargain with them to help them flee the country if they will assist him in his scheme. Otherwise, he will turn them in. They have little choice, and agree to go along with his plan before they even know what it is.But everything goes wrong with Martin's plan from the start. Bad breaks follow unfortunate coincidences in one unexpected plot twist after another, starting from the moment they get back to Martin's house and running all the way down to the penultimate scene.Eventually it comes out that Martin has a past, and when the escaped cons discover it, this creates another rift in the deteriorating trio.Both of the "bad guys" are really not so bad. Svenson especially is quite human, a rather sympathetic character. Of course, in spite of their increasing lack of enthusiasm for Martin's plan, the two of them have lived by the sword, and so are liable for the consequences. But each of them manages to achieve a small measure of redemption.Nothing is wasted in this movie. The plot unfolds with mounting tension at a rapid pace. Every moment in this rather short film is calculated, crafted, a necessary piece in the tension that is developed by a skillful combination of plot and direction. Hitchcock rarely did it better, and often did it worse.Even the final scene keeps in character with the movie, and does not fall into the mawkishness which would have been so easy, but rather ends up on a rather dark and somewhat ambiguous note.The building tension in this movie achieves what few movies ever have been able to do to me ("Lady In A Cage," "Dial M For Murder" and "Midnight Lace" spring to mind), keeping me riveted to the screen, and almost uncomfortable, squirming in my chair as I wait for the inevitable, which, in the greatest Hitchockian manner, does not come, but is whipped away by a surprising plot twist.Excellent suspense! Masterfully executed!

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