Review of Assault

Introduction

This rarely aired (for obvious reasons) curio from Rank Studio`s archives is actually more watchable than it sounds on paper. Despite its salacious (and decidedly un-PC) promise, it turns out to be a half-decent who-dunnit.

The movie starts with one schoolgirl being attacked whilst taking a short cut through woodland near her school, leaving the girl in a catatonic condition. Despite warnings, a second girl decides to take the same shortcut and falls foul of the attacker, which is partially witnessed by a car full of students and a teacher, who sees the image of the attacker reflected in her brake lights as a demonic monster of a man. This time the girl is murdered, raising the stakes.
In desperation, the teacher who witnessed the crime (and is therefore a prime witness) agrees to go along with the plans of a local reporter - to use herself as bait to lure the killer out of hiding. The school psychologist, who is caring for the first victim, is none too keen - though it`s unclear whether this is because he is in love with the teacher, or that he has something to hide.

A number of `suspects` emerge, including the husband of the school`s Headmistress who seems to take an emasculated role within their strange relationship, and who is constantly eyeing up or fondling schoolgirls in their care.

In a desperate attempt to finally nail the killer, the school psychologist suggests that they administer Sodium Pentithol to Tessa to bring her out of her catatonic state, and provide them with the information they need. This proves to be the catalyst for a series of events that lead to the killer eventually revealing their identity.

It`s a reasonable cast too with Suzy Kendall (TV regular in shows like The Persuaders and Van Der Valk) playing teacher Julie West, TV and film regular Frank Finlay playing Detective Chief Superintendent. Velyan, and a young Lesley Anne Down as Tessa Hurst, the catatonic schoolgirl, which she plays convincingly.

Video

Remember sitting waiting for the main picture to come on after the Pearl and Dean soundtrack cut to Kia Ora and Westler`s Hot Dog adverts? Then there`d be a lot of sparkling and blips, perhaps even a hair in the gate as the Rank man banged his gong.

Film damage was pretty much the norm in my local small town fleapit, along with near impenetrable smoke. Well, this hasn`t got the smoke but this transfer has all the authentic hallmarks of wear and tear. Not great, but then what else would you expect?

Audio

This is muddy and echoey (on the wide shots) with little or no post-synch, in common with ITC shows and Rank films of the day. Acceptable, but takes a bit of getting used to in an age of pristine, close digital sound.

Features

Some of the extras that Network add to their discs show a willingness to add value to their discs, though are often extremely peripheral. This is no exception, with a bonus episode of `Tales from the Unexpected` ("There`s One Born Every Minute") featuring Frank Finlay, looking substantially greyer, in the role of a cheating husband. It`s an episode
that has more twists and turns than Brands Hatch, and a diverting 30 minutes.

There`s also a very small selection of images as well as the original theatrical trailer, which majors on the salacious aspects of the movie - predictably.

Conclusion

On paper, this film sounds impossibly un-PC. It`s a salacious tale of teenage schoolgirls being sexually attacked in remote woodlands near their posh private school-grounds. It`s a bad transfer of a not terribly good movie, so on the surface doesn`t have a lot going for it.

But for fans of period ITC TV shows, this Rank Studio outing is a perfect period piece, reflecting the values and pre-occupations of the very early 1970`s, and taking the high drama style of action TV a little further than would have been allowed by censors of the day. Despite it occupying some decidedly dodgy territory, with some gratuitous (but never fully revealing) shots of schoolgirl victims under attack, it`s also a perfectly decent who-dunnit.

If you can accept the muddy soundtrack, wooden dialogue, and un-PC values, it`s actually quite a watchable and enjoyable piece. However, I`d reserve any recommendation by saying that this one is purely for nostalgia freaks. It`s a curio that without Network`s tireless campaign to get Rank Studios entire output transferred to little silver discs, you would be most unlikely to see in any other way.