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When heavy fog prevents any flights from leaving London Airport, a group of passengers are put on a bus driven by Percy Lamb (Frankie Howerd in his first starring role) to drive to another airport. The fog is that heavy Percy doesn't know where he is going or that he is carrying stolen gold bullion that the robbers and police are relentlessly pursuing.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
85 of 87 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good film badly presented!,
By Dee-en (London) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Runaway Bus [1954] [DVD] (DVD)
Fans of Frankie Howerd will know that this was his film debut and that he was against the idea of making a film for fear that his style of comedy wouldn't work on the big screen. Luckily he choose veteran film maker Val Guest to direct the picture and the combination of comedy and drama works very well. The story is centred around a coach full of passengers travelling from one airport to another during a bad fog with Frankie at the wheel. The coach also carries a secret stash of stolen gold bullion and one of the passengers is responsible for the theft, but which one? Basically it's a rehash of the old smuggled goods story used previously in numerous films from The Ghost Train to Oh Mr Porter, but here it has the added bonus of Frankie providing the laughs and boasts a superb cast including Margaret Rutherford, a young Petula Clark and Terence Alexander. The only problem is that for this release Pickwick have not only chosen the worst print they could find to duplicate from but also it has been edited, cutting out the best two scenes in the film! These were where Frankie telephones his elderly grandmother to tell her he'll be late home and he more-or-less goes into his act, getting more and more exasperated by the fact that she can't understand what he is trying to tell her. These scenes were apparently improvised on the set when Val Guest explained that the film was running short by a few minutes and it is a testament to Frankie's skill that he was able to come up with the goods at a moment's notice. To cut these humorous scenes out of the film is a crime. So it's four stars for the film but NO stars for the presentation. [...]
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
More like a runaway projectionist,
By Carry On fan "Andy" (Somerset, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Runaway Bus [1954] [DVD] (DVD)
This film is difficult to watch - I'd say it was for hardened Frankie Howerd fans or lovers of early British cinema only. The plot is fine, Howerd's acting is great (you can see the talent bursting to escape) but the film is let down technically. It's on the Pickwick label so I never expected a visual masterpiece but even so the quality is really poor. My particular disc went into 3 second hibernation at 15 minutes, 30 minutes and 50 minutes. The worst, however, is at a reel-change where the viewer is treated to the 4,+,3,+,2,1, countdown.
Additionally, I think a section of bad frames have been chopped from the middle of the film. At one point, Frankie Howerd drops into a river having climbed down from the bus whilst it's on a bridge; but in the next scene, he's talking to his passengers behind the bus in a field. I last saw the 'Runaway Bus' on television - the print had been cleaned and properly edited so what on earth were Pickwick thinking in releasing the film in this state? Overall, the strength of Howerd's acting overcomes the poor presentation. This film is worth watching if you love him but worth missing if not.
79 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Save your money,
By Jimbo "Jimbo" (U.K) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Runaway Bus [1954] [DVD] (DVD)
I did buy this DVD and I must say it was the worst print I have ever seen, worse than the old pirate videos of the 80's and that is saying something.
I did contact Pickwick and in fairness they did apologise and said they were sorting this bad pressing out and would send me a better copy which they did, unfortunately it was as bad as the last one. A pity really, so save your money until they really do get this problem sorted.
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