Breakout (1959)

Director:

Peter Graham Scott

Writers:

Peter Barnes (writer)
Frederick Oughton (novel)

Release Date:

March 1959 (UK)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A government official arranges prison breaks as a sideline, but the police steps in and his gang is caught. |

Cast

Lee Patterson	...	George Munro
Hazel Court	...	Rita Arkwright
Terence Alexander	...	Farrow
William Lucas	...	Chandler
John Paul	...	Arkwright
Billie Whitelaw	...	Rose Munro
Dermot Kelly	...	O'Quinn
Estelle Brody	...	Maureen O'Quinn
Rupert Davies	...	Morgan
Lloyd Lamble	...	Inspector
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
George Bishop	...	Judge (uncredited)

Directed by
Peter Graham Scott

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Peter Barnes		writer
Frederick Oughton		novel

Produced by
Leslie Parkyn	....	producer
Julian Wintle	....	producer

Cinematography by
Eric Cross		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Eric Boyd-Perkins

Art Direction by
Eric Saw

Sound Department
Len Page	....	sound recordist

Production Companies

• Independent Artists

Distributors

• Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors (1959) (USA) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1961) (USA) (TV) (original airing)

Other Companies

• De Wolfe Music  stock music

Runtime:

62 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Beaconsfield Studios, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Independent Artists

Trivia:

First released to cinemas in England as a second feature, it was later in 1961 screened on American Television as the 4th episode of "Kraft Mystery Theater" (1960).

Nifty Low-Budget British Prison-Break Movie

62 Minutes, and no mucking around.

The judge has hardly finished reading out the sentence he imposed on Arkwright, than his wife is getting in touch with 'fixer'. Chandler, who will arrange to spring him from prison. We do get a chance to draw breath during the cosy domestic scenes between the civil servant ex-con chosen for the job, played by charismatic Lee Patterson, and wife Billie Whitelaw, before we're off and running again and our hearts are in our mouths when it looks as if the break will be frustrated.

This is the kind of film that Woody 'One Shot' Van Dyke would have been proud to have made in his heyday: no muss, no fuss, just give the public what they want.

It ain't art, but I loved it, and it ended with a smile on my face, although I'm not saying who else had.

Zippy direction, good location shooting, including car chases, a 'bar- room brawl', and 'a bit on the side'. What more do you want?

Wonderful playing by Patterson, Whitelaw, Hazel Court, as Arkwright's glamorous 'femme fatale' wife, and the perennially caddish Terence Alexander. With Dermot Kelly, as the Irishman who whips up a storm in a bar, in order to become the inside man And almost steal the film.