I found this film on "Talking Pictures" and was pleasantly surprised by a story that moved along well, held the attention with some well-wrought tension and drama and also had believable characters from a broad cross-section of British life in the early1950s.
The story is about a search for three donors with a very rare blood group who can help to save the life a little girl - she's dying of a very rare leukaemia and desperately needs a transfusion to save her. It manages a to create a slice of post war British life with almost every character bringing in a new angle to the story.
One particular characterisation caught my attention that was the very sympathetic (NOT some silly caricature) treatment of a black stoker who is refusing to give his blood and is also refusing to say why. The character's name was George Robinson and he was played by Earl Cameron (who is at the time of writing still alive 101 years old! and was known as a story teller on the Children's TV programme: Jackanory) The refusal stems from his perception that his "black blood" would be regarded as not being as good as "white blood" - he is persuaded otherwise, which for those days in the UK was quite a strong and positive message (there was indeed quite a bit of racism about in those times too!). There are some very good bits of casting and acting with the dependable Jack Warner playing a Scotland Yard Chief Inspector, Anthony Steel as the young hospital doctor, Sidney Tafler as the nasty crook, Sid James as the boxing manager and (to my astonishment!) Freddie Mills (formerly a real-life world boxing champion) giving a good acting performance as a boxer (also one of the potential blood donors).
All in all, this is a film that I enjoyed and would watch again.
Review of The Hundred Hour Hunt
