Child in the House ** (1956, Eric Portman, Phyllis Calvert, Stanley Baker, Mandy Miller) – Classic Movie Review 14,016

Cy Endfield’s 1956 British drama film Child in the House is based on a novel by Janet McNeill, and stars Eric Portman, Phyllis Calvert, Stanley Baker, Mandy Miller, Dora Bryan, and Joan Hickson.

Co-writer/ director Cy Endfield’s 1956 British drama film Child in the House is based on the 1955 novel A Child in the House by prolific Irish novelist Janet McNeill, and stars Eric Portman, Phyllis Calvert, Stanley Baker and Mandy Miller, along with Dora Bryan, Joan Hickson, Victor Maddern, Percy Herbert, Martin Miller, Alfie Bass and Maggie Smith.

The not quite so little Mandy Miller, four years after her biggest success in Mandy, stars as Elizabeth Lorimer, an 11-year-old girl temporarily living in Belgravia with her wealthy auntie (Phyllis Calvert) and uncle (Eric Portman) while her mother is in hospital and her criminal father Stephen Lorimer (Stanley Baker) is on the run from the police.

Fatefully, Stephen meets Elizabeth secretly, making her promise not to tell anyone where he is hiding in London.

Stout playing from a notable British cast and Cy Endfield’s sharp direction give the edge to a tearful sentimental family tale. Portman and Calvert are ideal, with the chilly side of Calvert’s personality well exploited, while Mandy Miller gives a sensitive, sympathetic performance, while Dora Bryan and Joan Hickson are amusing as the cockney housemaid Cassie and the Cook.

Maggie Smith’s debut, aged 22, uncredited as party guest.

The first of six collaborations of Stanley Baker and Cy Endfield, including Hell Drivers (1957) and most notably the all-time great British classic Zulu, which they both produced as its star and director.

It is made at Nettlefold Film Studios, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England.

Runtime: 90 minutes.

Release date: 14 August 1956 (London).

Janet McNeill (14 September 1907 – October 1994) is the author of more than 20 children’s books, as well as adult novels, plays, and two opera libretti.

Phyllis Calvert and Terence Morgan played Mandy Miller’s parents in Mandy, with Jack Hawkins as the headmaster of the school for the deaf where Mandy is enrolled.

Mandy Miller recalled: ‘I was an instinctive actress, which is probably why I seemed so natural.’

The cast are Phyllis Calvert as Evelyn Acheson, Eric Portman as Henry Acheson, Stanley Baker as Stephen Lorimer, Mandy Miller as Elizabeth Lorimer, Dora Bryan as Cassie, Joan Hickson as Cook, Victor Maddern as Bert, Percy Herbert as Detective Sergeant Taylor, Joan Benham as Vera McNally, Martin Miller as Professor Topolski, Christopher Toyne as Peter McNally, Molly Urquhart as Mrs Parsons, Bruce Beeby as Constable Jennings, Peter Burton as Howard Forbes, Maggie Smith as party guest, Alfie Bass as ticket collector.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 14,016

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