The Gentle Trap

The Gentle Trap
Directed by	Charles Saunders
Screenplay by	Brock Williams
Produced by	Jack Parsons
Starring	Spencer Teakle Felicity Young Martin Benson
Cinematography	Ken Hodges
Edited by	Peter Pitt
Production company	Butcher's Film Service
Release date	1960 (1960)
Running time	61 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Gentle Trap is a 1960 British second feature ('B')[1] black and white film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Spencer Teakle, Felicity Young and Martin Benson.[2][3] It was written by Brock Williams and produced by Jack Parsons for Butcher's Film Service.

Plot

When a diamond robbery goes wrong, young locksmith turned first-time thief Johnny Ryan is on the run from the police and from crooked club owner Ricky Barnes. Ryan seeks refuge in a seedy nightclub and meets Mary, a tough blonde who lets him hide in her flat, which she shares with her sister Jean. When Mary betrays Ryan to Barnes, Jean helps Ryan escape to her uncle's farm. The police arrive, and Jean and Ryan realise that they have fallen in love.

Cast

• Spencer Teakle as Johnny Ryan
• Felicity Young as Jean
• Martin Benson as Ricky Barnes
• Dorinda Stevens as Mary
• Dawn Brooks as Sylvia
• Alan Edwards as Al Jenkins
• Hugh Latimer as Vic Carter
• Larry Burns as Ted
• Colin Reid as Inspector Stevenson
• Arthur Hewlett as Sam
• Keith Marsh as Pete
• James Mcloughlin as Sergeant
• John Dunbar as uncle

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "A cut to pattern, rough-and-ready crime thriller, energetically performed but too transparent to maintain the necessary tension."[4]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "This utterly threadbare British B-movie is about an apprentice locksmith who goes on the run from the police and local gangsters. It was made by the low-budget production company Butcher's, and everyone involved made a hash of it. Only devoted fans of its leading actor Spencer Teakle and actress Felicity Young, who plays a rather feeble femme fatale, will bother to watch."[5]

In The British 'B' Film, Chibnall and McFarlane call the film "shoddy".[1]

References

1. Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 185. ISBN 978-1-8445-7319-6.
2. "The Gentle Trap". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
3. Chibnall, Steve; Murphy, Robert (1999). British Crime Cinema. Routledge. p. 61. ISBN 0415168694.
4. "The Gentle Trap". The Monthly Film Bulletin. Vol. 27, no. 312. 1 January 1960. p. 170 – via ProQuest.
5. Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 358. ISBN 9780992936440.

External links

• The Gentle Trap at IMDb