NEVER TAKE SWEETS FROM A STRANGER: does exactly what it says on the tin

NEVER TAKE SWEETS FROM A STRANGER is an interesting blend of exploitation and drama which genuinely surprised me by the frankness with which it addressed its subject matter.
Set in Canada but very obviously filmed within a stone's throw of the Buckinghamshire studios of Hammer Productions in the UK, the story tackles the issue of pedophilia head-on, but without ever using the p-word.
Granite jawed Patrick Allen moves to an isolated and close-knit town to take up his new job as headmaster of the local high school, bringing with him his awfully prim and proper British wife Gwen Watford and their unfeasibly well-spoken 9 year old daughter Jean. They've barely finished unpacking when Jean comes home and tells them that she and a friend have stripped naked and danced for an old man who gave them sweets as a reward.
Their outrage turns to disbelief when they're advised by the local police chief not to press charges because the accused is patriarch of the wealthy and powerful Oldeberry family which has deep roots in the community.  When the parents insist on taking the case to court they discover just how ruthless the Oldeberrys are prepared to be to protect their reputation.
Director Cyril Frankel takes his cue from the film's no nonsense title and lays out the narrative in a very straightforward style where A leads to B leads to C, but he also resists the temptation to sensationalize the distasteful subject matter. Even Jean's understandably distressed and angry father acknowledges that pedophilia is an illness requiring treatment, and the story never so much as hints at the notion of vigilante style retribution as the solution.
About as close as the film gets to taking a tabloid approach to the issue is in its portrayal of the accused. Old man Oldeberry is presented as a slimmed-down, silent and senile Sydney Greenstreet-like figure, clad in a rumpled white linen suit lurching through the woods clutching a grubby paper bag of candy. His obvious difference makes it somehow easier to accept him as a child molester.
So why exactly was I so surprised by all this? NEVER TAKE SWEETS FROM A STRANGER was first released fifty years ago at a time when the public attitude towards such an issue was far from well-informed or enlightened, and it was made by a studio - Hammer - better known for technicolour horror movies than serious social commentary.
In light of this it's not surprising that the film was not well received by audiences in 1960, but it's worth checking out as an example of mainstream cinema trying something different rather than simply pandering to the lowest common denominator.