The Dark Light

Albert Lieven - Mark
David Greene - Johnny
Norman Macowan - Rigby
Martin Benson - Luigi
Jack Stewart - Matt
Catherine Blake - Linda
Joan Carol - Joan
John Harvey - Roger
John Longden - Stephen

Another of Vernon Sewell’s salty thrillers often featuring his own yacht. This low-budget Hammer production shot on location at the Nab Tower Lighthouse starts out promisingly enough but a mixture of poor acting and an underdeveloped storyline ensure it never rises above mediocre.

Told in flashback, The Dark Light begins when a small party from a passing yacht investigate why the light from the Thimble Rock Lighthouse is extinguished. Upon entering the lighthouse they discover it to be deserted – only for the sound of dripping; dripping blood.

The story now reverts to 24 hours earlier when the three lighthouse keepers have their solitude interrupted by a shipwrecked craft adrift of their lighthouse, and they quickly rescue the mysterious two men and one woman from the stricken boat. The three turn out crooks who committed a £100,000 robbery earlier in which a staff member died. Two of the lighthouse workers deduce who the trio are and offer to put them ashore in France in exchange for a share of the booty but the elderly skipper won’t hear of it.

One of the crooks kills the elderly skipper during a brawl on the lighthouse and the remaining five endeavour to make their getaway in a rowing boat. With the lighthouse bulb having been sabotaged the lack of light raises the alarm of the authorities but meanwhile those heading for the French coast are beginning to fight amongst themselves.