Emergency Call

Archetypal film that shows post war Britain as it is understood by those of us who grew up with Dixon of Dock Green, Freddie Mills, Sydney Tafler and Sid James writing our scripts. Wonderful stuff with a conclusion we know will be solved just before the film ends, so we can all go to bed knowing that all is right with the world and we are being protected by our new NHS and police force who do no wrong.

Such a shame we learnt the truth by the eighties by which time we had grown up and discovered how complex the world really is, but oh how we can recall the kindly usherette showing us to our seats in a darkened cinema as we all felt part of the same Britain for just an hour and a half before the new Queen was crowned. Wonderful evocative stuff or a load of old clap trap depending on your take on the world?

It's quite tough to be objective about this - it is a well made feel-good film with a worthy cause and sterling efforts from all concerned as they try to track down a blood donor who can save the life of a desperately ill child. Simultaneously, the police - Jack Warner and Bruce Seton - are on the trail of a dodgy boxing promoter who is trying to manipulate the career of "Tim Mahoney" (former World Light Heavyweight Champ Freddie Mills) and also of some other recalcitrant miscreants. It's got the smallest of budgets, but a surprisingly solid cast of British stalwarts from Dandy Nicholls and Anthony Steel - the well meaning doctor - to Sid James, Thora Hird and Eric Pohlmann and they all combine to make this a perfectly watchable tug at the heart strings mixed in with the usual detective yarn. If you come across it, then you ought to spare it 90 minutes - you'll feel better afterwards.

Competent if slightly stodgy (and now rather dated) British B-movie. The plot centres around a child critically ill in hospital who needs a blood transfusion to save her life. Unfortunately she has a rare blood group, so Scotland yard are called in to track down possible donors. This is used as a framework for a collection of little stories about life in London ca 1950 rather in the style of "The Blue Lamp". Jack Warner and Sid James as a boxing manager (who could be a decent character actor when he tried) do a reasonable job at keeping the plot afloat. Now mainly of interest as a social document.

Portmanteau story regarding plight of a critically ill child, stricken with Leukaemia. She has but days to live, she needs a blood transfusion for 3 pints of blood, but needs this within days or she will die. The race is on to find suitable donors - complicated by her extremely rare blood group.

The caring doctor teams up with a wily Scotland Yard detective, and they meet various sections of society in the hunt for their men.

Notable for an appearance by former World Light-Heavyweight Boxing Champion - Freddie Mills.

A stock black and white "B-movie", with some interesting twists and turns before we reach the climax.

Lewis Gilbert was a good professional director, and this film is as equally well made as the others. The story is supposedly about saving the life of a child who has a blood disease and needs three donors with a rare blood type to save her, but the script is more thriller than life saving.. No spoilers but the film is very sensationalist, involving a boxing ring, plus the hunt for a murderer. It has dated and yet accurate about a very prejudiced era of British history. I am not nostalgic about those times, but the cast act well. Cameos from Vida Hope and several others stand out, and Jack Warner plays yet again a policeman.