Flying Fifty-Five

Flying Fifty-Five is a low budget and very pedestrian but light hearted thriller. It is based on an Edgar Wallace story.

Bill Urquhart has upset his wealthy father who makes sure that a cheque Bill has written bounces.

An upset Bill goes his own way and works under an assumed name at a racing stable owned by Stella Barrington. Flying Fifty-Five is the wild steeplechase horse who only responds to Bill.

Before long, the rogue who has the bounced cheque that Bill wrote, blackmails Bill. He wants Bill to throw the race where Flying Fifty-Five is running. At the time writing a dishonoured cheque was a criminal offence.

There is a side plot where a dead man is mistaken to be Bill Urquhart. All because Bill had a cigarette box bearing his name stolen.

There is some nice genteel comedy. The thrills are hard to come by. The film starts off slowly and everyone speaks in clipped tones.

Luckily Bill finds a bit of romance with Stella. Even his father who has been mistakenly told his son has died comes round.

Despite the usual blackmail and violent death, this is a remarkably cheerful Edgar Wallace adaptation - brightly lit, much of it shot on location in the sunshine and played for laughs - rather than more ghoulish, gothic outings like 'The Terror' and 'The Case of the Frightened Lady' that immediately preceded and followed it.

The generally genial, light-hearted tone of the piece is further enhanced by a brief appearance - easily spotted and with a couple of lines - by a relatively young Terry-Thomas looking (and sounding) exactly as he did twenty years later.