Interesting Lewis Gilbert directed drama with pretty French locations. Part of the 1950s and 1960s British genre of young person falls in love with/comes under the influence of a criminal that started I guess with The Fallen Idol and Oliver Twist. This and Tiger Bay and Whistle Down the Wind were female versions. Here the girl is Susannah York in an eye catching early role. Her mum is sick on holiday so she's in charge of her two siblings, one played by Jane Asher. She becomes infatuated with the dashing boyfriend (Kenneth More) of the woman running the hotel.
Gilbert felt More's role needed someone more handsome like Dirk Bogarde. I think he's right - Bogarde or someone like Michael Craig or a French actor like Alan Delon. Still, it's interesting to see More in this sort of role. He can handle the change from cheery chap to someone with a darker side. He's not quite well cast but he is an amiable star. And he doesn't have a lechery sex vibe - even when he kisses York at the end, because he's kind of sexless it's not as dodgy as if say Michael Craig had done it.
The story is simple but logically thought out - his bond with the kids, the reveal that the guy has a past.
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