Werkspionage

Every Children's Film Foundation film I've seen so far has been very enjoyable and often shows well known actors and actresses in early roles. A great plot and plenty of action.

A slight departure from the usual norm of camps/dens, cheating bullies...this 1963 film is about industrial espionage and plucky kids (teenagers here) foiling the rogues with some help from homing pigeons. Set mainly in a damp, gritty North, there is also a light plane ride and an exciting chase and escape from a deserted house in Belgium (though this is set near Elstree).

The cast includes Arnold Ridley, who here actually seems older than his later, famous Private Godfrey role in "Dad's Army"; and a 14-Y-O Judy Geeson, displaying some puppy fat but already possessing that lovely, gentle face.

Another enjoyable hour down the CFF memory lane.

Once again a later blonde sixties sex bomb makes an early appearance as a toothy teenager in a ponytail when The Children's Film Foundation took Judy Geeson up north to Sheffield in winter to make this whimsical little adventure combining pigeons and industrial espionage against the backdrop of a real steel foundry. Meanwhile on the soundtrack the attractive clarinet score goes all percussive when villainy rears its ugly head to make a grab for "the secret of a new alloy" which serves as the film's MacGuffin.