Snowball

Very much of its time, this film explores several issues including the power of the press, the damage a simple lie can do and and how an interfering busybody can cause such upset and tragedy. The story is simple on the surface - did an otherwise good boy (Dennis Waterman in an early role) tell a lie to cover up his mis-spending of a sixpence? But events snowball, gossip grows and an innocent man is accused of something of which he has no recollection. Strangely gripping and quite moving in parts.

Like Pat Jackson's earlier film 'The Birthday Present', behind the apparently light-hearted title lies not a fluffy little comedy but a stark drama reminiscent of 'The Children's Hour', 'Le Corbeau', 'Panique' and 'The Wrong Man' which could have been called 'The Tangled Web'.

Sixty years on the tensions between bus drivers and their passengers are still a feature of daily life; as well as the malign influence of the tabloid press. Ironically only two years earlier Kenneth Griffith had already played a fare dodger in 'Chain of Events'; but this time the poacher is the gamekeeper.

A good film to show young people!

This film concentrates on a young boy who has a tendency to tell fibs. There are serious issues contained in this movie, not only child lies, but the way the press and a person's peers can treat an innocent person, going only on the word of a child.

Basically, this film is about how a childs simple lie can have repercussions beyond the mis-spending of a sixpence, and lead to things no one wanted, or expected.

Waterman and Jackson are great and show the acting skills that would later make them both excellent TV actors.

The film could do with an upgrade, as it still carries an important message.

8 out of 10.

Caught this on TP toda, an absolute gem of a film. A moral tale told very well, and ending that doesn't sugar coat it. Solid performances all round from all involved. In my opinion this film is up there with I'm Alright Jack as a British social commentary of its day.

Zena Walker is worried, she tells husband Gordon Jackson. Their son, Dennis Waterman, isn't home yet. Jackson says he's probably out with his fiends. When Waterman gets home, he says the driver kicked him off. Miss Walker tells people, and local busybodies get involved, and soon a reporter from the local paper is following the story. The driver says he has no memory of the incident, and insists he would never kick a child off. But the affair starts to snowball.

It's an engaging little movie directed by Pat Jackson from a novel by James Lake, very low key at first, but gradually growing in tension and anguish. Highly recommended.

Waterman died this year at the age of 74.