Guns of Darkness


Guns of Darkness is a 1962 British drama film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring David Niven, Leslie Caron and James Robertson Justice. It was written by John Mortimer based on the 1960 novel Act of Mercy by Francis Clifford, which was retitled Guns of Darkness for the American market.

Plot summary

Caught in a South American country during a coup, a British couple, Tom and Claire, try to help the ousted Latin American president of Tribulacion, named Rivera, escape to the border.

Cast

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Submerged among the intrigues, chases and shootings of a typical Latin American adventure yarn, are fragments of a serious comment on the degrading effects of violence on those who use it, and on the moral duty to aid anyone in danger. But neither John Mortimer's script nor Anthony Asquith's direction gives the moral the significance it demands. David Niven fails to put himself across as the immature idealist he is supposed to be playing; Leslie Caron, as his wife, overacts painfully in their intimate scenes; and Derek Godfrey's revolutionary is a stock sinister type with a Castro beard. Only a suspenseful struggle for life in a swamp comes over as a worthwhile moment of cinema."
Kine Weekly wrote: The picture, basically a profile of an Englishman who has education and moral hourage, but very fixed horizons, gets to the heart of its matter through touching and gripping channels. David Niven acts convincingly as Tom, who rushes in where angels fear to road, Leslie Caron, piquant and appealing, easily rises above one incongruous romantic interlude as Claire, David Opatashu registers as the idealist Rivera, Barry Shawzin scores in contrast as the stop-at-nothing Zoreno, and James Robertson Justice is very true to type as the shallow, face-saving Bryant."