| Delayed Flight | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Tony Young |
| Screenplay by | Dail Ambler |
| Produced by | Bill Luckwell David Vigo |
| Starring | Helen Cherry Hugh McDermott |
| Cinematography | Walter J. Harvey (as Jimmy Harvey, B.S.C.) |
| Edited by | Norman Cohen |
| Music by | Wilfred Burns |
Production company | Luckwell Productions Limited |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date | 1964 |
Running time | 62 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
Delayed Flight is a 1964 British low-budget thriller film directed by Tony Young, and starring Helen Cherry and Hugh McDermott.[1]
Plot
An airline flight lands at an airport in England, where the passengers are told they must be delayed and quarantined for 24 hours due to a smallpox scare. Two of them, Helen Strickland and American Army Lt. Col. Calvin Brampton, escape. A third passenger, a secret agent, also escapes but is fatally shot. Before dying, he entrusts important official documents to Brampton to be delivered to the Prime Minister. Meanwhile, Strickland is also heading to London to intercept a private letter that must not be seen by her husband.
The two team up and are pursued by the police for breaking quarantine, and by the two sinister henchmen who shot the secret agent and who work for an organization that wants the documents in order to instigate an uprising in Africa. After various adventures, Calvin and Strickland achieve their ends and say their farewells. The smallpox scare turns out to have been nothing more than a case of chicken pox.
Cast
- Helen Cherry as Helen Strickland
- Hugh McDermott as Lieutenant Colonel Calvin Brampton
- Paul Williamson as Shentor
- Neal Arden as Hicks
- John Watson as Dooley
- Hector Ross as Styles
- Totti Truman Taylor as Doctor
- Patrick Jordan as Carter
- Ross Hutchinson as Haines
- Jessie Barclay as Receptionist
- Keith Rawlings as Police Inspector
- Nicolette Pendrell as Air Hostess
Production
Delayed Flight was filmed in March 1964 at Bray Studios as a supporting feature. Hammer Film Productions appears to have been financially involved with the film, which is one of the rarest and most elusive of their co-productions. The film was once listed on Hammer’s official website. It was shot back-to-back with crime thriller The Runaway.[2][3]
This was the last film produced by Bill Luckwell, and was the second of two thrillers (the other being The Runaway) which he made at Bray Studios, which at that time were owned by Hammer Films.[4]
Release
The film was intended to be distributed by Columbia Pictures, but was not released in the UK or US. In Australia, it was shown to accompany other Columbia films such as Fail Safe and The Long Ships.[4]
References
- ↑ "Delayed Flight". BFI Collections Search. British Film Institute. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
- ↑ Fellner, Chris (15 August 2019). The Encyclopedia of Hammer Films. London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing. p. 95. ISBN 978-1538126585.
- ↑ Maxford, Howard (15 February 2019). Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 706. ISBN 978-1476670072.
- 1 2 Clinton, Franz Antony (30 October 2020). British Thrillers, 1950-1979: 845 Films of Suspense, Mystery, Murder and Espionage. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 282–283. ISBN 978-0786410323.