Floods of Fear
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Vivienne Knight (additional dialogue)
| Floods of Fear | |
|---|---|
![](#/media/File:"Floods_of_Fear"_(1959).jpg) British quad poster | |
| Directed by | Charles Crichton |
| Written by | Charles Crichton (screenplay) Vivienne Knight (additional dialogue) |
| Based on | A Girl, a Man, and a River by John Hawkins and Ward Hawkins |
| Produced by | Sydney Box |
| Starring | Howard Keel Anne Heywood Cyril Cusack |
| Cinematography | Christopher Challis |
| Edited by | Peter Bezencenet |
| Music by | Alan Rawsthorne |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (UK) Universal (US) |
Release dates |
June 1959 (USA) |
Running time | 84 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £300,000[1] |
Floods of Fear is a 1958 British thriller film directed by Charles Crichton and starring Howard Keel, Anne Heywood and Harry H. Corbett.[2][3]
During a flood, prison convict Donovan escapes while helping build a barrier for an impending flood. He gets swept away in the waters, along with his prison guard, Sharkey, and a fellow prisoner, Peebles. They wash up at a farm house of Dr Mathews, who is away helping victims of the flood.
The trio are alone until Dr Mathews' daughter Anne arrives. Conflict ensues which results in Donovan leaving with Anne and Peebles fleeing Sharkey.
Donovan and Anne fall in love. He reveals that he was framed for murdering the wife of his former business partner, Jack Murphy, and is seeking revenge against Murphy.
Cast
- Howard Keel as Donovan
- Anne Heywood as Elizabeth Matthews
- Cyril Cusack as Peebles
- Harry H. Corbett as Sharkey
- John Crawford as Jack Murphy
- Eddie Byrne as Sheriff
- John Phillips as Dr. Matthews
- Mark Baker as watchman
- James Dyrenforth as mayor
- Jack Lester as businessman
- Peter Madden as banker
- Guy Kingsley Poynter as deputy sheriff
- Gordon Tanner as Lt. Colonel
- Robert Mackenzie as police captain
- Vivian Matalon as farmer
- Gordon Sterne as farmer
- Bill Edwards as 1st deputy
- Graydon Gould as 2nd deputy
- Kevin Scott as 3rd deputy
- Ed Devereaux as sergeant
Production
The film was made at a time when the Rank Organisation starred a lot of non-English actors in their films with a view to appealing to the international market.[4]
The movie was based on a novel. Charles Crichton, the director, said he had to make the film "because I wanted money". He claimed the film "had a writer who was so awful that the producer said you take half the book... and I'll take the other half, you write that half, I'll write this half. And we only had a little time to do it. So I wrote my half and asked him where was his half and he said I haven't started yet, you better go on actually." Crichton had to rewrite the whole movie. "And it just wasn't a subject which I would have chosen," he said. [5]
The movie was called The Floods of Fear but this was shortened to Floods of Fear. Filming started in London on 23 April 1958.[6]
Howard Keel recalled the filming in his autobiography Only Make Believe: My Life in Show Business: "All the flood scenes were filmed on one of the large stages at Pinewood Studios. The water had to be both dirty and cold, and it was. They couldn't heat it for fear it might get rancid. That was another tough picture. Anne Heywood never once protested about the water. [Charles] Crichton, who had a great sense of humor, had directed some very funny pictures. Cyril Cusack and I were good friends. We had a little contest over Anne. He was a real cutie, as well as a hell of an actor, but I won out."[7]
Crichton said he was "not proud of the picture" but was proud of the fact "that it looks like the Mississippi in flood and it was all shot in the studio at Pinewood, or near all. Technically I think it was quite an achievement actually."[5]