Written by Brian Clemens and Terry Nation
Directed by Robert Fuest
Starring Pamela Franklin, Michele Dotrice and Sandor Elès
UK, 1970
Pamela Franklin and Michele Dotrice play Jane and Cathy, two friends vacationing in rural France. After a disagreement about whether to keep cycling or stop and enjoy the scenery, they split up, with Jane riding ahead and Cathy staying behind to sunbathe. When Jane returns to find her friend, she's disappeared, and the locals aren't much help. There's also a mysterious guy on a motor scooter who keeps turning up, and Jane begins to wonder whether he's involved.
AND SOON THE DARKNESS makes a perfectly ordinary setting seem threatening. The French countryside is beautiful, all wide-open fields and quiet roads, but once Cathy disappears, the isolation becomes unsettling.
Jane doesn't speak much French, and the people she encounters either can't or won't explain what's going on. Even when someone seems to be trying to help, it's hard to know whether to trust them.
Franklin is good as the increasingly frightened Jane, and Dotrice makes an impression during the first part of the movie, too. Both are easy on the eyes, which doesn't hurt, though the filmmakers are more interested in building suspense than exploiting the attractive stars.
This is one of those thrillers where not a whole lot actually happens, but the filmmakers make you nervous about what might happen. It's a nice example of how you can get a lot of mileage out of a simple premise and a good location.
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