Child's Play 1954 Written by Don Sharp, Peter Blackmore and Margaret Thomson, directed by Margaret Thomson. Don was also second unit director on the film. He had a fairly decent run as a director starting in 1955, his last film came out in 1989. He worked for Hammer films directing The Kiss Of The Vampire in 1963 and on their TV production Hammer House Of Horror in 1980. He directed The Face Of Fu Manchu and The Brides Of Fu Manchu for Harry Alan Towers. Margaret only had a few entries on the IMDb and I couldn't say any were familiar.
In a quiet little English village some kids make a bomb and blow up their club house.
The inclusion of a piece of lava from Krakatoa creates an atomic explosion.
The only casualty is a doll.
The local constabulary is disturbed and sets out to find what's going on. The kids move their experiment to an old quarry where they set out to make a product using their new machine and the Krakatoa lava. The new product is popcorn, branded Bangcorn, which they sell through the local sweet shop.
That's the popcorn making machine. The nice lady in the candy shop is Mona Washbourne, she's playing Miss Emily Goslett. The man in the picture is Ballard Berkeley. Some might remember him from Fawlty Towers where he played the major.
Peter Sallis plays the local van driver who sells Miss Goslett's candy apples on his route around the villages. The young girl in the picture on the right is Anneke Wills, some might remember her from all sorts of British TV including Doctor Who. Bangcorn proves popular and they can hardly keep up with the demand. Eventually the secret gets out but by then the last of the Krakatoa rock is used up. The village turns back to normal again.
It's a good story with fun kids and atomic powered popcorn. There's plenty of noise and a few explosions. What's not to like. I picked it up on a whim at the MVD clearance sale for a couple of bucks. Well spent.
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