Life in Danger

Another Derren Nesbitt sleeper. Not so good as The Man In the Back Seat maybe, but this is still a reasonably taut British thriller which grows in stature as it goes along. Nesbitt plays the suspected maniac on the loose, eventually cornered in a hayloft after befriending children (shades of Whistle Down the Wind here) What makes this film interesting, besides Nesbitt's presence in a starring role, is the way in which the narrative plays with our genre expectations, eventually forming a critique of 'respectable' society rather than providing the predictable portrait of a loser on the run. Both Nesbitt and Julie Hopkins (in one of her few screen roles) do a good job, while the film does a subtle job of juxtaposing the world of the pub with the freedom represented by the barn. It is the gradual rediscovery of low budget efforts like these, directed by a small and often overlooked cadre of second or third-rankers, often with a cast of familiar faces, which puts the lie to the idea that for much of this time Britain was a land without cinema. Maybe it was just not the cinema that some critics were looking for, since this sort of unassuming film these days gives more immediate pleasure than some of the stuffy quality productions of the time, If this and its ilk were in French no doubt we would be hearing more about them.

LIFE IN DANGER is a low budget British crime drama about a child murderer who busts out of an asylum and is at large in the local community. While the police and authorities begin a slow and largely ineffectual investigation, the local gun-toting landowners decide to take the law into their own hands and hunt for the escapee themselves.

The story boasts an excellent performance from a youthful Derren Nesbitt as the lead character, who hides out in a barn for much of the running time. Nesbitt has always exuded an edgy and dangerous persona and never more so than here. The rest of the cast aren't quite as memorable, but the writers use the story template to explore some interesting topics: trial and retribution; psychological disturbance; the mindset of a murderer; and vigilantism. It's fairly suspenseful stuff, enlivened by a great edge-of-the-seat climax.

A murderer has escaped from the prison for the criminally insane. The doctor in charge hesitates to sound the alarm and rouse the county. At the same time, Derrin Nesbitt appears at the back door of a farmhouse and asks for some water. He's been walking all day. He's young, he's good-looking, and the daughter of the house, Julie Hopkins, takes a fancy to him.

It's a nicely done thriller, with some nice characterizations about it; particularly good is Peter Swanwick as the dithery doctor, whom the audience quickly comes to view with contempt.... until he insists that the police and the local squire, who has been stalking around with a rifle, ready to shoot some one, stand back, while he goes into the barn where they think the mad man is hiding: he may not be a fast thinker, but he is no coward.

In the end, the writing is too neat, the 'normal' people too hysterical, to offer a balanced view of the rights of the individual against public safety. Still, until the very end, it is a tense and worrying scenario.

The fact that there are only 2 other reviews testify to the fact that this is virtually unknown.Yet it is an exciting,thoughtful and well made film with an excellent cast.Derren Nesbitt is especially good particularly since in some ways he is playing against type.There seem to be so many threads and characters running through this film that it is difficult to realise that it runs just over an hour.One gets the feeling that Butcher's spent the absolute minimum on this film,though they still manage to get a reasonable standard of production out of it.The film made a welcome return to the TV screen with its recent showing on Talking Picture TV.

Derren Nesbitt leads an extremely capable cast in this rarely seen B movie. Indeed, Nesbitt's performance is consistently first-rate throughout the film. The limited number of settings (a country lane, an office, a old English pub and a farm) may be quite basic, but these allow the well-crafted plot to shine through. Indeed, the story-line is surprisingly strong, building a tension which makes the movie's hour long running time pass remarkably quickly.

The underpinning theme of the movie is that a child murderer has escaped from an asylum. The actions and reactions of the inhabitants of the neighbouring village are really well-explored by director Terry Bishop.

Released under the Parroch Films banner and distributed by Butcher's Films in 1959, Renown digitally remastered the movie in 2009. It's revival on the Talking Pictures channel is really welcome.