Dangerous Voyage

Last updated

Dangerous Voyage
Theatrical release poster for film Dangerous Voyage (1954).png
American theatrical release poster
Directed by Vernon Sewell
Written byVernon Sewell
Julian Ward
Produced by Nat Cohen
Stuart Levy
William H. Williams
Starring William Lundigan
Naomi Chance
Vincent Ball
Cinematography Josef Ambor
Edited by Geoffrey Muller
Music by Allan Gray
Production
company
Merton Park Studios Productions
Distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors
Release date
  • 5 April 1954 (1954-04-05)
Running time
72 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Dangerous Voyage (U.S. title Terror Ship) is a 1954 British crime thriller B film [1] directed by Vernon Sewell and starring William Lundigan, Naomi Chance and Vincent Ball. [2] It was written by Sewell and Julian Ward and was distributed by Anglo-Amalgamated in the UK, [1] and in the United States by Lippert Pictures.

Contents

Plot

Author Peter Duncan investigates the circumstances of a damaged yacht and its crew who are taken under tow off the English coast, and the subsequent disappearance of the crew before they reach land. The mast is somehow radioactive but after replacement a geiger counter still picks up a strong reading. When they try to find the old mast on the junk heap, it has disappeared.

Cast

Production

The film was shot at Merton Park Studios in London, [2] with sets designed by art director George Haslam. Location shooting took place in the English Channel, in Honfleur in France, and Shoreham in Sussex.

Vernon Sewell later said the film was originally to be about motor car racing and he refused to direct it. As they had already contracted William Lundigan they hired a blacklisted American screenwriter to change the script to be set on Sewell's yacht. [3]

Reception

Kine Weekly wrote: "Windswept crime melodrama set mainly on the briny. ... A slap-up climax makes it watertight. Good British 'programmer'". [4]

The Monthly Film Bulletin said "Average mystery film which makes use of the latest developments in popular science to find a new way of disposing of the villains." [5]

In British Sound Films David Quinlan says: "Same old British 'B' problem: good ideas but mediocre execution. Laughs in the wrong places." [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Escape by Night</i> (1953 film) 1953 British film by John Gilling

Escape by Night is a 1953 British second feature ('B') crime film directed and written by John Gilling and starring Bonar Colleano, Andrew Ray, Sid James and Simone Silva.

<i>Follow That Horse!</i> 1960 British film by Alan Bromly

Follow That Horse! is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Alan Bromly and starring David Tomlinson, Cecil Parker, Richard Wattis, Mary Peach and Dora Bryan. The screenplay was by Alfred Shaughnessy and William Douglas-Home based on the 1954 novel Photo Finish by Howard Mason.

<i>Dangerous Cargo</i> 1954 British film by John Harlow

Dangerous Cargo is a 1954 British black and white second feature ('B') crime film directed by John Harlow starring Jack Watling, Susan Stephen and Karel Stepanek. The film was written by Daily Express crime reporter Percy Hoskins and Stanley Haynes, and produced by Haynes for ACT Films.

<i>Home and Away</i> (film) 1956 British film by Vernon Sewell

Home and Away is a 1956 British drama film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Jack Warner and Kathleen Harrison. It depicts the life of an ordinary working-class man after he wins the football pools. The film reunited Warner and Harrison who had previously appeared together in the Huggetts series of films.

<i>Time Is My Enemy</i> 1954 British film by Don Chaffey

Time Is My Enemy is a 1954 British crime film directed by Don Chaffey and starring Dennis Price, Renée Asherson and Patrick Barr.

<i>The Teckman Mystery</i> 1954 film

The Teckman Mystery is a 1954 British mystery film directed by Wendy Toye and starring Margaret Leighton, John Justin, Roland Culver and Michael Medwin. It was written by Francis Durbridge and James Matthews, based on the 1953 BBC TV serial The Teckman Biography by Durbridge. It was distributed by British Lion.

<i>A Touch of the Sun</i> (1956 film) 1956 British comedy film

A Touch of the Sun is a 1956 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Frankie Howerd, Ruby Murray and Dennis Price. It was written by Alfred Shaughnessy.

<i>The Second Mate</i> 1950 British film by John Baxter

The Second Mate is a 1950 British crime film directed by John Baxter and starring Gordon Harker, Graham Moffatt and David Hannaford. It was made at Southall Studios.

<i>The Lost Hours</i> 1952 British film by David MacDonald

The Lost Hours is a 1952 British second feature ('B') film noir directed by David MacDonald and starring Mark Stevens, Jean Kent and John Bentley. It was written by Steve Fisher and John Gilling. It was produced by Tempean Films which specialised in making second features at the time, and marked Kent's first "descent", as Chibnall and McFarlane put it, into B films after her 1940s stardom. It was released in the United States in 1953 by RKO Pictures.

<i>Burnt Evidence</i> 1954 British film by Daniel Birt

Burnt Evidence is a 1954 British second feature thriller film directed by Daniel Birt and starring Jane Hylton, Duncan Lamont and Donald Gray. It was produced by Ronald Kinnoch for ACT Films.

<i>The Passing Stranger</i> 1954 British film by John Arnold

The Passing Stranger is a 1954 British crime film written and directed by John Arnold, and starring Lee Patterson, Diane Cilento and Duncan Lamont. It was produced by Anthony Simmons, who also wrote the original film story, and Ian Gibson-Smith, with Leon Clore as executive producer for Harlequin Productions.

<i>The Gambler and the Lady</i> 1952 British film

The Gambler and the Lady is a 1952 British second feature ('B') crime film directed by Patrick Jenkins and Sam Newfield and starring Dane Clark, Kathleen Byron and Naomi Chance. It was written by Newfield and made by Hammer Films.

<i>Soho Incident</i> 1956 British film by Vernon Sewell

Soho Incident, released in the United States as Spin a Dark Web, is a 1956 British film noir directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Faith Domergue and Lee Patterson. The screenplay by Ian Stuart Black is based on the 1937 novel Wide Boys Never Work by Robert Westerby.

<i>Devils Point</i> (film) 1954 British film by Montgomery Tully

Devil's Point is a 1954 British drama film directed by Montgomery Tully and starring Richard Arlen, Greta Gynt and Donald Houston. It was written and produced by Charles Deane as a second feature, one of two he made starring Hollywood actor Arlen; the other was Stolen Time (1955). The film was released in the United States by 20th Century Fox.

<i>The Scarlet Web</i> 1954 British film by Charles Saunders

The Scarlet Web is a 1954 British second feature crime film directed by Charles Saunders and starring Griffith Jones, Hazel Court and Zena Marshall. It was written by Doreen Montgomery.

<i>Counterspy</i> (film) 1953 British film by Vernon Sewell

Counterspy is a 1953 British second feature comedy thriller film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Dermot Walsh, Hazel Court and Hermione Baddeley. An accountant comes into possession of secret papers sought by both the government and a spy ring.

<i>Johnny on the Spot</i> 1954 British film by Maclean Rogers

Johnny on the Spot is a 1954 British 'B' crime drama film directed by Maclean Rogers and starring Hugh McDermott, Elspet Gray and Paul Carpenter. It was written by Rogers based on the 1953 novel Paid in Full by Michael Cronin.

<i>Profile</i> (1954 film) 1954 film

Profile is a 1954 British second feature ('B') thriller film directed by Francis Searle and starring John Bentley, Kathleen Byron and Thea Gregory. It was written by John Temple-Smith, Maurice Temple-Smith and John Gilling.

<i>Rogues Yarn</i> 1957 British film by Vernon Sewell

Rogue's Yarn is a 1957 British second feature crime drama film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Nicole Maurey, Derek Bond and Elwyn Brook-Jones. It was written by Sewell and Ernle Bradford, and distributed by the independent Eros Films.

<i>Wrong Number</i> (1959 film) 1959 British film by Vernon Sewell

Wrong Number is a 1959 British second feature crime film directed by Vernon Sewell and starring Peter Reynolds, Lisa Gastoni and Olive Sloane. It was written by James Eastwood and Norman Edwards.

References

  1. 1 2 Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 144. ISBN   978-1-8445-7319-6.
  2. 1 2 "Dangerous Voyage". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  3. Fowler, Roy (8 July 1994). "Vernon Sewell". British Entertainment History Project.
  4. "Dangerous Voyage". Kine Weekly . 44 (238): 16–17. 18 March 1954.
  5. "Dangerous Voyage". Monthly Film Bulletin . 21 (240): 73. 1954 via ProQuest.
  6. Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 298. ISBN   0-7134-1874-5.