PANIC (1963)

 

In the new issue of MIDNIGHT MARQUEE magazine, there's an excellent article detailing the life and acting career of Milton Reid. The brawny, bald Reid made several memorable appearances in numerous cult films made in the 1960s and 1970s, and Christopher Gullo's article shines some much-needed light on the man. 

Most of Reid's screen roles didn't give him a lot of screen time, or much dialogue--his size and menacing personality were usually what filmmakers were after. Most of Reid's roles had no dialogue, and even if there was any, it was almost always spoken by the dubbed voice of another actor. 

In Christopher Gullo's article he mentions a British film called PANIC, originally released in 1963. Gullo details that in this movie, Reid isn't a threat...and he even gets to use his own voice! This caught my attention, so I wound up looking for the film on YouTube, and I was able to find it and view it. 

PANIC is a low-budget black & white suspense tale, with plenty of noir elements. Overall the movie reminded me of the type of productions made by Hammer Films in the early 1950s, before they found their niche with science-fiction and Gothic horror. The Hammer comparison also extends to the cast & crew. The director and screenwriter of PANIC was John Gilling, who made this picture in the middle of a run of work for Hammer. Among the cast are plenty of faces familiar to Hammer fans--the aforementioned Reid, Marne Maitland, Duncan Lamont, and Phillip Ray. 

The main character in the story is Jan (Janine Gray), a young Swiss woman living in London who works at a diamond exchange. Jan's no-good boyfriend Johnnie (Dyson Lovell) uses information from her to plan a robbery at the exchange after hours. Johnnie's two accomplices who actually commit the crime kill Jan's boss (Phillip Ray), and also knock Jan out. When she comes to, she's in shock, and she's suffering from a loss of memory. She wanders about London, trying to figure out who she is and what happened, while the police and Johnnie are also searching for her. 

Jan winds up meeting several eccentric and shady people during her experience. After she leaves the diamond exchange in a daze, she eventually checks into a seedy hotel. It's there that Milton Reid appears. At first, due to his appearance it seems that Reid wants to take advantage of Jan...but he winds up saving her from the lascivious attentions of the hotel manager (Marne Maitland). Reid speaks his lines softly, but his voice is clear and his words are easy to understand. Unfortunately after this sequence neither Reid or Maitland appear again in the film. 

Jan also shows up at a cafe, where she's accosted by a group of beatniks. A kindly, past-his-prime boxer named Mike (Glyn Houston) comes to her rescue, and decides to help Jan in her quest to find out what is going on (by this time she's now wanted for questioning in two different murders). At this point Mike almost becomes the main focus of the story--he agrees to a fight he can't possibly win, just to raise money so he can get Jan out of London. Mike is obviously attracted to Jan--he sadly explains to her at one point that his wife walked out on him--but he doesn't try anything on her. (One does have to wonder, though, whether Mike would go to all this trouble if Jan wasn't young and pretty.) All this leads to an ending that is rather abrupt--it's as if the movie reached the end of its budget. 

PANIC is an okay film, but it's a very mild thriller. The fact that it is only about 70 minutes long, and in full frame ratio, makes it seem like a TV episode instead of a full-fledged feature film. One problem is that the audience is one step ahead of Jan all the way--she's searching for info that we already know. The story should have focused more on her instead of Mike, and the machinations of Johnnie and his accomplices. It might have been better if the movie started with Jan waking up at the diamond exchange, with a dead body next to her, and the viewer not knowing any more than she does. 

John Gilling and cinematographer Gregory Faithfull try hard to give PANIC a noir-like feel. They do, however, use plenty of close-ups--maybe this was an attempt to make Jan's plight more intimate, or maybe it was due to the low budget. Gilling was used to dealing with unusual material, and he was quite proficient at getting the most out of very little to work with, but I have to say that PANIC isn't one of his better films (or scripts). 

PANIC is very much a "It's late at night, and I can't get to sleep" type of movie. There is enough here to interest Hammer fans. As for Milton Reid, he once again makes a large impression with a small role. In all honestly Reid should have played the part of Mike--PANIC would have been more notable if he had.