| To the Public Danger | |
| Director: | Terence Fisher |
| Producer: | John Croydon |
| Music: | Doreen Carwithen |
| Editing: | Graeme Hamilton |
| Studio: | Highbury Productions |
| Distributor: | General Film Distributors |
| Runtime: | 43 minutes |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
To the Public Danger is a 1948 British drama short film directed by Terence Fisher and produced by John Croydon. It stars Dermot Walsh, Susan Shaw, Barry Letts, and Frederick Piper.[1]
The film was made at Highbury Studios as a second feature for release by the Rank Organisation.[2] Like other Highbury productions, it offered acting opportunities for several of Rank's young contract stars. The film's sets were designed by Don Russell, although a number of the scenes were shot on location.
The screenplay, written by T.J. Morrison and Arthur Reid, was based on a 1939 radio play by Patrick Hamilton, who had been encouraged to write the story as part of a government road safety campaign. Hamilton had himself been knocked down by a drunk driver. The story was updated slightly, and represents the post-war malaise with the use of noirish sequences.[3] After making the film Fisher graduated to directing several more expensive productions for Gainsborough Pictures.
While having a quiet drink together in a road house, a young working-class couple Fred and Nancy fall into the company of two raffish motorists including the self-confident Captain Cole. After a game of billiards and a number of drinks, they drive out on the road. While speeding along in the dark they hit what they think to be a man on a bicycle.
Although Fred wants to stop, Captain Cole insists on driving on. Nancy takes Cole's side and begins taunting Fred, who eventually manages to escape and raise the alarm. A police investigation reveals that nobody had been injured in the collision with the bike, which had belonged to a poacher who didn't report the accident. In the meantime, Cole, Nancy and the other passenger have suffered a crash of their own while drunken speeding, killing all three of them.
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This is a story with a twist to it which points a sad moral, but which as a film has little to distinguish it."[4]