The Black Rider ** (1954, Jimmy Hanley, Rona Anderson, Leslie Dwyer, Lionel Jeffries, Beatrice Varley, Vincent Ball, Edwin Richfield, Kenneth Connor) – Classic Movie Review 4080

The 1954 double-feature British crime thriller film The Black Rider stars Jimmy Hanley as a young reporter and amateur biker who discovers crooks hiding out in a ruined castle while plotting atomic sabotage.

Director Wolf Rilla’s 1954 double-feature British crime thriller film The Black Rider starts with an idea as old as the hills about a gang of crooks who are apparently haunting a ruined castle.

Jimmy Hanley stars as the young reporter and amateur biker Jerry Marsh who sets out to catch the crooks with the help of a gang of motorcycle club members. The crooks are plotting a bit of atomic sabotage…

Made by Balblair Productions, this Butcher’s Film Service release is a desperately cheap production and the idea would perhaps have suited Will Hay or Arthur Askey better as a comedy. But director Rilla effectively deploys a bunch of particularly amiable actors and it is all over in a breathless 65 minutes.

Hanley and Rona Anderson, as his faithful pillion rider Mary Plack, are in high spirits as the couple who eventually uncover the nest of enemy agents, who are smuggling atomic bomb parts into England.

In the late Eighties, British TV has rescued this characterful old black and white relic from oblivion, and in 2025 it plays on Talking Pictures TV.

Also in the cast are Leslie Dwyer, Lionel Jeffries, Beatrice Varley, Vincent Ball, Edwin Richfield, Kenneth Connor, Michael Golden, Valerie Hanson, Robert Rietty, James Raglan, Frank Atkinson, Edie Martin, Peter Swanwick, Sarah Davies, John Pike, Anne Gillens, Andrew Leigh, John Baker and Frank Taylor.

It is written by the film’s producer A R Rawlinson, based on Marion by Peter Jones.

It is shot by cinematographer Geoffrey Faithfull at Walton Studios, Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, England.

The cast

The cast are Jimmy Hanley as Jerry Marsh, Rona Anderson as Mary Plack, Leslie Dwyer as Robert Plack, Lionel Jeffries as Martin Bremner, Beatrice Varley as Mrs Marsh, Michael Golden as Rakoff, Valerie Hanson as Karen, Vincent Ball as Ted Lintott, Edwin Richfield as Geoff Morgan, Kenneth Connor as George Amble, Robert Rietti as Mario, James Raglan as Rackton, Frank Atkinson as Landlord, Edie Martin as elderly lady, Peter Swanwick as holiday-maker, Sarah Davies, John Pike, Anne Gillens, Andrew Leigh, John Baker and Frank Taylor.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4,080

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