The Black Panther (1977 film)
The Black Panther is a 1977 British film in the crime and thriller genres directed by Ian Merrick, his first feature,[1] starring Donald Sumpter, Debbie Farrington and Marjorie Yates.[2][3] Based on the Donald Neilson case, an ex-soldier turned armed robber kidnaps Lesley Whittle, a teenage heiress, an incident directly leading to her death.
It was verified from primary sources, such as The Guardian, and screenwriter Michael Armstrong. The film was controversial on first release, as when interviewer Sue Lawley lied, when reviling director Ian Merrick and the film on the BBC series Tonight programme, when she said "I've seen the film and I think its sick" when she hadn't.[4] but John Patterson for The Guardian commented on its BFI, DVD and Blu-ray release in 2012 that it "emerges as a meticulous, tactful, well-made and highly responsible true-crime movie".[4] http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2012/jun/06/the-black-panther-donald-neilson In 2012 the film was remastered and resurrected into the British Film Institutes Archives and Hall of Fame, as an important British film to rave reviews. It also reached number ten on their sales list. François Guerif, France’s leading film critic called it a "a masterpiece" in 2015 when he reviewed the film for the Beaune Film Festival.
Cast
- Donald Sumpter - Donald Neilson
- Debbie Farrington - Lesley Whittle
- Marjorie Yates - Neilson's Wife
- Sylvia O'Donnell - Neilson's Daughter
- Andrew Burt - Lesley's Brother
- Alison Key - Lesley's Sister-In-Law
- Ruth Dunning - Lesley's Mother
- David Swift - Detective Chief Superintendent
References
- ↑ "The Black Panther(1977)". Yahoo movies. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
- ↑ The Black Panther (1996 [1977]), BFI Film & TV database
- ↑ Chibnall & Petley p.225
- 1 2 John Pattersonie "Why The Black Panther can hold its head up high", The Guardian (blog), 6 June 2012
Bibliography
- Chibnall, Steve & Petley, Julian. British Horror Cinema. Routledge, 2002.