Joy Shelton brings her young daughter, Jennifer Tafler, to the hospital. The child is dying of a rare form of leukemia. She needs a complete transfusion or she will die in barely more than four days. Unfortunately, she has an even rarer blood type. There are only three people in Britain who have the same blood type. One is Freddie Mills, a has-been boxer who disappeared after his manager, Sid James, told him to take a dive. The second is Earl Cameron (still alive in his 102nd year as I write this), a seaman who refuses to give his blood. The third is Geoffrey Hibbert, wanted for murder and in hiding. Jack Warner is the Scotland Yard inspector leading the search. He says it's a nice change from his usual murder beat.
It's a well-made movie, with the professionals all doing their jobs calmly, and the laity showing flares of temperament as Miss Tafler, whose father, Sydney Tafler, has a sizable role, sinks towards death. There is mordant humor to take the audience's mind off the impending tragedy: Henry Hewitt, whose wife is identified as one of the possible donors; he does not realize she is dead. Eric Pohlman and Thora Hird are on hand, welcome faces in this drama. Sometimes the police are trying to help the living..... something the gangsters and fishwives (Miss Hird runs a chippie!) don't always recognize.
