Life in Danger *** (1959, Derren Nesbitt, Julie Hopkins) – Classic Movie Review 13,578

‘Terror rules as a mad killer on-the-loose rips a town apart! The tense 1959 British second feature thriller film Life in Danger stars Derren Nesbitt and Julie Hopkins.

‘Terror rules as a mad killer on-the-loose rips a town apart!’ The 1959 British second feature film Life in Danger is directed by Terry Bishop, and stars Derren Nesbitt and Julie Hopkins, and is written by Malcolm Hulke and Eric Paice.

Life in Danger is a tense and suspenseful thriller with Derren Nesbitt as a casual labourer hounded by villagers who believe that he is a convicted child killer just escaped from the lunatic asylum near by.

Howard Marion Crawford plays Major Donald Peters, the war veteran mayor who leads the hunt, Julie Hopkins co-stars as Hazel Ashley, an unstable adolescent who befriends the labourer, and Bruce Seton is old George, the landlord of the local pub. Bryan Coleman, Humphrey Lestocq, and Richard Pearson are the police, Chief Constable Ryman, Inspector Bennet and Sergeant Bert Norris.

The film is an interesting Hitchcockian exercise in how easy it is to attract guilt and how tough it is to prove your innocence. It is all good, but the start and finish are especially well done. The performances are strong. Nesbitt and Hopkins are excellent, and so are the other actors, all of them convincing.

The cast are Derren Nesbitt, Julie Hopkins, Howard Marion Crawford, Victor Brooks, Jack Allen, Christopher Witty, Mary Manson, Bruce Seton, Carmel McSharry, Peter Swanwick, Bryan Coleman, Humphrey Lestocq, Richard Pearson, Celia Hewitt, and Brian Rawlinson.

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

Life in Danger is directed by Terry Bishop, runs 63 minutes, is made by Parroch Films and Jack Parsons Productions, is released by Butcher’s Film Service (UK), is written by Malcolm Hulke and Eric Paice, is produced by Jack Parsons, and is scored by William Davies.

It was released on 7 September 1959.

It was released on DVD in the UK by Renown Pictures.

Derren Nesbitt (born Derren Michael Horwitz; 19 June 1935) 

Julie Hopkins was born on February 12, 1940 in Bournemouth, Dorset, England, and died on May 6, 2005 in Kensington, London. She had a brief three-year career, mainly on TV. She was married to Peter Molins.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,578

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