Guns of Darkness (1962)

It is New Year’s Eve, and there are two interesting gatherings in the capital of the (fictional) South American republic of Tribulacion. One is the traditional British welcome to the new year at the home of local plantation manager Hugo Bryant (James Robertson Justice); the other is a sinister concentration of troops near the home of President Rivera (David Opatoshu).

At the stroke of midnight, the British party breaks into Auld Lang Syne. Also at the stroke of midnight, the thunder of rifle butts on the doors of the Presidential residence proclaims the outbreak of a revolution.

Among Bryant’s guests are Tom Jordan (David Niven) and his long-suffering wife Claire (Leslie Caron).

Claire is unhappy – Tom’s schoolboy sense of humour is embarrassing to her, and his habit of quitting job after job is undermining their marriage.

At the Jordan home the following day, Claire calls in the plantation doctor, who confirms that, after two previous miscarriages, she is now pregnant.

She does not have time to tell Tom before an incident takes place, which is to change the lives of both of them.

President Rivera has escaped the revolutionaries by hiding in the back of Tom’s car. He is badly wounded, and when Tom discovers Rivera, he decides, on impulse, to try to get him over the frontier a hundred miles away.

Hernandez (played by Derek Godfrey but voiced by an uncredited Roger Delgado), a scheming politician behind the new President, orders the capture of the fugitives, dead or alive. The nightmare hunt is on . . .

Among the breathtaking and hair-raising adventures that befall them, nothing exceeds the thrills in the scene in which the party is trapped in suffocating quicksand.

Guns of Darkness was filmed mostly on location in Spain, with interior shooting at the Associated British Studios at Elstree.

Claire Jordan
Leslie Caron
Tom Jordan
David Niven
Hugo Bryant
James Robertson Justice
President Rivera
David Opatoshu
Hernandez
Derek Godfrey
Roger Delgado (voice)
Bastian
Richard Pearson
Mrs Bastian
Eleanor Summerfield
Dr Swann
Ian Hunter
Lieutenant Gomez
Sandor Elès
Gabriel
Steven Scott
Gabriel’s Cousin
Tutte Lemkow
Nightclub Singer
Dorothy Sensier (as Dorita Sensier)
First Officer
John Carson
Second Officer
Anthony Morton
Sergeant
Peter Allenby
Indian Boy
Ali Nagi
Revolutionary Sergeant
Robert Barnete
Revolutionary Officer
Antonio Molino Rojo
Hospital Doctor
Ralph Nossek
Reporter
Neville Becker
Hernandez Assistant
Clive Cazes
General Zoreno
Barry Shawzin

Director
Anthony Asquith