The Runaway Bus Movie Review

The late comic Frankie Howerd (1921–92) was a great favorite in Great Britain, but he's still an acquired taste for many Americans. He was in excellent company for The La-dykillers, Mouse on the Moon, and Carry on Doctor, and his co-stars here give him terrific support for this first film. The premise is that the bad guys have hidden 200,000 pounds on the airport bus (this is before the devaluation of the pound when such an amount represented a cool million bucks in 1954 money) and the oblivious Percy Lamb (Howerd) is driving. What's more, the fog is thicker than pea soup. Who are the bad guys? It could be any of the usual suspects: Margaret Rutherford (1892–1972) as Miss Cynthia Beeston (halfway between her days as Madame Arcati and as Miss Jane Marple) OR Petula Clark as coach hostess Miss Lee Nichols OR delightful Belinda Lee (1935–61) as crime buff Miss Janie Grey OR George Coulouris (1903–89) as Edward Schroeder OR Toke Townley (1912–84) as gardening expert Henry Waterman OR Terence Alexander, then 31, in uniform as Peter Jones. All play their roles with obvious zest and the inevitable solution to the mystery clearly takes a back seat to the comedy. The wildly different styles of Rutherford and Lee are especially fun to watch. The less-challenging English rose part played by Clark, then 22, was one of the reasons she abandoned the movie career she began at age 12 for the more lucrative status of popular recording artist by 1964.

1954 78m/B GB Frankie Howerd, Margaret Rutherford, Petula Clark, George Coulouris, Belinda Lee, Reginald Beckwith, Terence Alexander, Toke Townley, John Horsley, Anthony Oliver, Stringer Davis, Lisa Gas-toni, Frank Phillips; D: Val Guest; W: Val Guest; C: Stanley Pavey; M: Ronald Binge. VHS