The Black Panther (1977) is an intelligent true-crime drama that charts the infamous killing spree which Donald Neilson, aka the Black Panther, carried out across England in the mid-70s, culminating in the kidnapping and murder of a 17-year old girl. Newly mastered from original film elements preserved in the BFI National Archive, this impressive and powerful film is at long last being made available for new audiences in a Dual Format Edition, released on 28 May by BFI Flipside.
Told with uncommon accuracy and refraining from any measure of sensationalism, director Ian Merrick and screenwriter Michael Armstrong’s fascinating and disturbing film fell foul of a media-driven campaign upon its original cinema release in 1977, which resulted in an effective ban.
Established lead actor Donald Sumpter, who fearlessly played Donald Neilson, was recently seen in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). Marjorie Yates who played Neilson’s wife is perhaps best-known for her role as Carol Fisher in the Channel 4 TV drama Shameless. Debbie Farrington (who plays the kidnap victim) went on to appear in a variety of TV dramas.
In the 1980s, The Black Panther was released for rental on VHS. The video trailer at the link above reflects how the film was targeted at a rental audience at that time, but is not the original theatrical trailer.
