Life in Danger

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.

A terse, compelling rural drama, probably inspired by the Straffen case that shocked Britain a few years earlier; plus forties dramas about small-town xenophobia like 'The Ox-Bow Incident' and 'Panique' (Howard Marion Crawford as Major Peters strongly recalling Harry Shannon as Major Tetley in the former).

A young Derren Nesbitt demonstrates that once long ago he could touchingly play waifs as well as bullies.

Virtually unknown British film which deals with an escaped prisoner from an asylum and the paranoia this causes in the local community.

Parkways is the institution which dominates the area - a siren is sounded when there is a possible escapee and stops everybody in their tracks, causing instant panic. The story introduces the small-town characters, who have become short-sighted and mistrustful because of the presence of the asylum. One typical character, the Major, talks about hunting game in Burma, and how escaped lunatics should be dealt with in similar fashion.

Having set the scene, the narrative unfolds with a young man drifting through town, the day after an escape from Parkways. He befriends a young boy and a teenage girl and the stage is set for confrontation, with the audience unsure who their sympathies should be with.

This really is a solid effort and makes one realise that Britain has its own sub-culture of commendable B-Movies from the '50s and '60s. Director Terry Bishop's next film was the even-more impressive 'Cover Girl Killer' (1959), which seems to be equally unheard of.

Derren Nesbitt is good in the lead role - looking like a young cross between Paul Newman and Rutger Hauer - and the film is well above-average, with an intelligent, tight storyline. Explores similar themes to 'The Ox-Bow Incident' (1943).

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.

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.