At precisely 8 o'clock one morning, three women are released from London's Holloway Prison together. They were found guilty of separate offences; it is only by coincidence that their sentences all end on the same day. They are twenty-something Stella Jarvis, thirty-something Monica Marsden and elderly Renee Quilliam. The film follows them during their first 24 hours of freedom, and we learn something of their lives before they were sent to prison.
The elegant and attractive Monica is clearly from a respectable middle-class family, but we learn that she fell in love with the wrong man who led her into a life of crime. When she returns to her apartment she finds her lover David waiting for her. She is not pleased to see him, but the handsome, smooth-talking David manages to persuade her that he has turned over a new leaf and the two resume their relationship. David, well-dressed and well-spoken, also appears to be from a good family background, but (unlike, say, Raffles or Cary Grant's character in "To Catch a Thief) he is no likeable gentleman-thief but a despicable individual whose promises of reform quickly prove to be hollow.
The working-class Mrs Quilliam is a compulsive shoplifter who has served several prison sentences. Despite her criminal record, she is a pitiable character rather than a villainous one. There is perhaps a suggestion that she commits her crimes because she actually prefers life in prison, where she at least has some companionship, to life on the outside where she is desperately lonely. Her husband is dead, she has no close friends, her daughter has virtually disowned her, and her only source of affection is her beloved dog Johnnie.
Stella's storyline is probably the weakest, largely because the script is so reluctant to say what her crime actually was. It is hinted that she is a prostitute and was jailed for soliciting, but the moral climate of the early fifties prevented the scriptwriters from being too explicit. Stella's decent and honest but rather dull bus conductor boyfriend Bob has stood by her, and she needs to decide whether she will settle down with him or return to her bad old ways.
"Turn the Key Softly" was one of a number of British films from around this period exploring social issues; Joan Collins, who plays Stella here, also starred in another of these, "I Believe in You", about the work of the Probation Service. Although Collins was to go on to become one of Britain's best-known film stars, certainly better known than any of the other actors in this production, she is not really the best thing about it, although she looks stunning. Perhaps because her storyline is left so vague, we never really care about Stella in the way in which we come to care for the two other main characters. Probably the best performance comes from Kathleen Harrison, an actress I had not come across before, as the tragic figure of Mrs Quilliam. Yvonne Mitchell is also good as Monica, a woman more sinned against than sinning, who has had to pay heavily for her mistake in falling in love with David.
The film features some striking black-and-white photography of 1950s London, which gives it a nostalgic feel for modern viewers watching it more than six decades on. I would rate it more highly than "I Believe in You", which has its good points but which at times can seem more like a quasi-documentary than a living drama. "Turn the Key Softly", by comparison, brings us excitement and emotion and deals with its characters in a sensitive and compassionate way. 7/10
A goof. When Mrs Quilliam goes to buy meat from the butcher, he says he is giving her eight ounces, but the scales show she is getting a pound.
The elegant and attractive Monica is clearly from a respectable middle-class family, but we learn that she fell in love with the wrong man who led her into a life of crime. When she returns to her apartment she finds her lover David waiting for her. She is not pleased to see him, but the handsome, smooth-talking David manages to persuade her that he has turned over a new leaf and the two resume their relationship. David, well-dressed and well-spoken, also appears to be from a good family background, but (unlike, say, Raffles or Cary Grant's character in "To Catch a Thief) he is no likeable gentleman-thief but a despicable individual whose promises of reform quickly prove to be hollow.
The working-class Mrs Quilliam is a compulsive shoplifter who has served several prison sentences. Despite her criminal record, she is a pitiable character rather than a villainous one. There is perhaps a suggestion that she commits her crimes because she actually prefers life in prison, where she at least has some companionship, to life on the outside where she is desperately lonely. Her husband is dead, she has no close friends, her daughter has virtually disowned her, and her only source of affection is her beloved dog Johnnie.
Stella's storyline is probably the weakest, largely because the script is so reluctant to say what her crime actually was. It is hinted that she is a prostitute and was jailed for soliciting, but the moral climate of the early fifties prevented the scriptwriters from being too explicit. Stella's decent and honest but rather dull bus conductor boyfriend Bob has stood by her, and she needs to decide whether she will settle down with him or return to her bad old ways.
"Turn the Key Softly" was one of a number of British films from around this period exploring social issues; Joan Collins, who plays Stella here, also starred in another of these, "I Believe in You", about the work of the Probation Service. Although Collins was to go on to become one of Britain's best-known film stars, certainly better known than any of the other actors in this production, she is not really the best thing about it, although she looks stunning. Perhaps because her storyline is left so vague, we never really care about Stella in the way in which we come to care for the two other main characters. Probably the best performance comes from Kathleen Harrison, an actress I had not come across before, as the tragic figure of Mrs Quilliam. Yvonne Mitchell is also good as Monica, a woman more sinned against than sinning, who has had to pay heavily for her mistake in falling in love with David.
The film features some striking black-and-white photography of 1950s London, which gives it a nostalgic feel for modern viewers watching it more than six decades on. I would rate it more highly than "I Believe in You", which has its good points but which at times can seem more like a quasi-documentary than a living drama. "Turn the Key Softly", by comparison, brings us excitement and emotion and deals with its characters in a sensitive and compassionate way. 7/10
A goof. When Mrs Quilliam goes to buy meat from the butcher, he says he is giving her eight ounces, but the scales show she is getting a pound.