Landslide

"Quota quickies" - don't you just hate them? Cheap, formulaic plot, casting and and performances with sets so small and minimal that they would make a newsreader claustrophobic and not stretch his/her dramatic abilities. I give them a rating of 5 meaning that I don't care if I watch them or not. Not irritatingly bad, just neither here nor there. This film is extravagantly imaginative and boldy goes over the top and almost off the rails.

An end-of-the-pier theatrical review troupe facing a catastrophe not just life-threatening but genuinely claustrophobic too. The troupe are reminiscent of JB Priestley's in his theatrical perennial The Good Companions (1930s version) - gossipy and superficial. How would they behave facing real disaster: unified and calmly? Landslide defies comparison indeed almost defies description but is spirited and quite entertaining. Visually too, it boldly goes with the special effects and set. Two of the stars would later rise to stardom in Britain (and then the Dominions) Jimmy Handley and Dinah Sheridan.

One of a kind. A slight shadow over it being the real events of just 20 years later in the same Welsh Valleys - the landslide which enveloped a school killing nearly all children and staff.