The Break (1963 film)

Monthly Film Bulletin said: "A routine plot, adequately acted by a cast which deserved better things. Set principally in the farmhouse, the few exteriors used are bleak moorland and quarry – in keeping, perhaps, with the melodrama and general dreariness of the production."^[3]

Chibnall and McFarlane in The British 'B' Film wrote: "The Break has a striking pre-credits sequence (a device not then very common) involving a criminal's leap from a train, a murder and an arrest. Comfort typically takes the film out of that stagy interior setting, avoiding that airless, studio-set claustrophobia with so often bedevils British budget film-making, and the action sequences are handled with real flair. The narrative shifts to a farmhouse, run as a hotel by an edgy married couple who are also involved in a smuggling racket. The setting-and-character mix sometimes recalls old-fashioned three-act plays, but a strong cast (including Sonia Dresdel as a grimly enigmatic cook, and William Lucas as the fugitive) gives point to the film's relationships."^[1]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "Lance Comfort directs this plodding whodunnit, in which a detective, a novelist, a fleeing crook and his sister stumble upon dark deeds on a Devon farm. Tony Britton does his best in the lead, but the mystery isn't likely to put too much strain on your little grey cells."^[4]

• The Break at IMDb