Devil's Bait

Devil's Bait is a 1959 British drama film directed by Peter Graham Scott and starring Geoffrey Keen, Jane Hylton and Gordon Jackson.[1][2] It was a second feature, made for release by the Rank Organisation.

Devil's Bait
Australian one sheet poster
Directed byPeter Graham Scott
Produced byLeslie Parkyn
Julian Wintle
Written byPeter Johnston
Diana Watson
StarringGeoffrey Keen
Jane Hylton
Gordon Jackson
Music byWilliam Alwyn
CinematographyMichael Reed
Edited byJohn Trumper
Production
company
Distributed byRank Film Distributors (UK)
Release date
  • December 1959 (1959-12) (UK)
Running time
58 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Plot

An incompetent rat-catcher leaves behind some of the poison he has used to eradicate rats from a small bakery, and the husband-and-wife bakery team inadvertently bake poison into a batch of bread. When they realize what they have done they try to retrieve the contaminated bread they have sold before anyone eats it.

Main cast

Critical assessment

Devil's Bait was selected by the film historians Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane as one of the 15 most meritorious British B films made between World War II and 1970. They note its narrative command and tension and the way the film moves forward "to a satisfyingly taut end – and one which leaves both narrative and character interests gratified". They particularly praise the two central performances: "The excellent performances of Hylton and Keen create a wholly convincing sense of two people whose relationship is under the strain of everyday irritations and who are imperceptibly drawn closer by the near disaster in which they are caught up."[1]

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References
  1. Chibnall & McFarlane, pp. 274-76.
  2. "Devil's Bait (1959)". BFI.

Bibliography
  • Chibnall, Steve & Brian McFarlane, The British 'B' Film, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009.
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