Emergency ward ten was the first hospital soap on British TV.it was a great success and inspired many limitations including this b feature.a young girl with a rare blood type is knocked down in a road accident.there are only 3 registered donors with her blood type.one is a murderer awaiting execution,the second is an international footballer,and the third is a defecting scientist on the run.Flynn Houston is the detective charged with finding at least one.a fair number of obstacles are put in his way before he finally gets his man.a fairly routine thriller .some car chases and an attempt to liven things up at the end,a bit predictable.
6 Reviews
If Only They Had Seen The Earlier Version!
boblipton25 January 2023
Little Candy Pibworth crosses the street when she shouldn't and is struck by a truck. At the hospital Dr. Colin Tapley tells her mother, Zena Walker, that he has to operate immediately. Miss Pibworth, however, has a very rare blood type. There's none in the banks, and only three listed donors. So Inspector Glyn Houston of the CID is the man to track them down and see if they'll save a little girl's life, while her estranged father, Dermot Walsh, actually talks to Miss Walker.
It's a remake of Emergency Call (1952). It's impossible to comment on this without comparing it to the original's, which I found better because of the stories of the three potential donors; here, they're all a bit melodramatic, although there's no denying that Patrick Jordan makes a fine, whiny, anti-social thug facing the gallows. You can slot any number of characters and stories among the potential donors, which is almost certainly why they re-used the format. The result here is a decent time-waster.
It's a remake of Emergency Call (1952). It's impossible to comment on this without comparing it to the original's, which I found better because of the stories of the three potential donors; here, they're all a bit melodramatic, although there's no denying that Patrick Jordan makes a fine, whiny, anti-social thug facing the gallows. You can slot any number of characters and stories among the potential donors, which is almost certainly why they re-used the format. The result here is a decent time-waster.
Efficient remake of Emergency Call.
jamesraeburn200330 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Scotland Yard's Inspector Harris (played by Glyn Houston) races against time to track down donors for a little girl called Marion who is of a rare blood type and needs a transfusion to survive after being involved in a road accident. The trouble is the potential donors are either difficult to trace or reluctant to help. They include star footballer Tommy Day (played by Edward Ogden) whose manager fails to inform him about it since he is more worried about his star's career. Jimmy Regan (played by Patrick Jordan) is a murderer on death row who will only agree to give blood if he is granted a reprieve. Meanwhile, Professor Graham (played by Garard Waters), is an atomic scientist who has been betraying secrets to foreign spies and goes on the run because he thinks Harris is on to him. Meanwhile, Marion's parents John (played by Dermot Walsh) and Joan (played by Zena Walker), who have been separated, try to reconcile their marriage...
British 'B'-pic studio Butcher's Film Distributors remade their own 1952 'A'-feature Emergency Call as a second feature. It's efficient enough and there are plenty of familiar supporting players to look out for - the sort whom you recognise but can't put a name to. Of the leads, Glyn Houston shines as the determined Yard man while Dermot Walsh and Zena Walker provide the emotional tug has the separated parents who are drawn back together as a result of their little daughter's accident. The script allows for some glorious irony like when the atomic scientist flees as a result of the police wanting to see him thinking they have discovered the fact that he is a double agent. However, the purpose of their visit was to ask him to give blood and, when he finds this out, he realises that he has drawn attention to himself quite unnecessarily. On top of that his fellow agents believed him to be a liability and decided to kill him. Veteran 'B'-picture director Francis Searle does a very competent job, although his direction isn't up to Lewis Gilbert's standard in the original, while the handful of outer London locations add flavour under Ken Hodges' atmospheric black and white lighting.
British 'B'-pic studio Butcher's Film Distributors remade their own 1952 'A'-feature Emergency Call as a second feature. It's efficient enough and there are plenty of familiar supporting players to look out for - the sort whom you recognise but can't put a name to. Of the leads, Glyn Houston shines as the determined Yard man while Dermot Walsh and Zena Walker provide the emotional tug has the separated parents who are drawn back together as a result of their little daughter's accident. The script allows for some glorious irony like when the atomic scientist flees as a result of the police wanting to see him thinking they have discovered the fact that he is a double agent. However, the purpose of their visit was to ask him to give blood and, when he finds this out, he realises that he has drawn attention to himself quite unnecessarily. On top of that his fellow agents believed him to be a liability and decided to kill him. Veteran 'B'-picture director Francis Searle does a very competent job, although his direction isn't up to Lewis Gilbert's standard in the original, while the handful of outer London locations add flavour under Ken Hodges' atmospheric black and white lighting.
Emergency
CinemaSerf25 August 2023
Glyn Houston was never the most versatile of actors but he acquits himself well enough here as the police inspector "Harris" who has to try and track down one of three potential blood donors for a young girl whose only hope of surviving a road accident is an immediate transfusion. It turns out that this search isn't exactly straightforward as one man is already on death row; an other is a reclusive scientist - with a secret he desperately wants to keep - and the third is actually the most decent of the three: a footballer about to play for his 100th England cap. The production is a bit basic, the story a little episodic and contrived at times but Francis Searle manages to keep all three plates in the air for much of this as the tension quickly mounts. Not much jeopardy, no - hardly likely with a little girl lying on an hospital bed in 1962 - but even so, it's still not a bad hour of drama.
Blood simple
Prismark103 April 2018
Emergency is a low budget British B movie. A lot of it is interior scenes but is efficiently made.
A little girl is knocked down by a truck and needs a blood transfusion. However she has a rare blood type and only three people are matched.
One of them is a criminal awaiting execution for murder. He would only give blood if he is released. A footballer who is on the verge of playing for England and get his 100th cap. The team manager does not tell him about the emergency as he wants to wait until the match is finished. The final man is a scientist selling secrets who goes on the run when the police call round.
By the way the accident is staged, you are surprised that the little girl is still alive, she should had been killed instantly. The film is a little bit silly, the footballer that the police never contact directly is an example or the dodgy scientists immediately arousing suspicion.
A little girl is knocked down by a truck and needs a blood transfusion. However she has a rare blood type and only three people are matched.
One of them is a criminal awaiting execution for murder. He would only give blood if he is released. A footballer who is on the verge of playing for England and get his 100th cap. The team manager does not tell him about the emergency as he wants to wait until the match is finished. The final man is a scientist selling secrets who goes on the run when the police call round.
By the way the accident is staged, you are surprised that the little girl is still alive, she should had been killed instantly. The film is a little bit silly, the footballer that the police never contact directly is an example or the dodgy scientists immediately arousing suspicion.
Cheap remake of the 1952 film Emergency Call
Leofwine_draca9 June 2016
EMERGENCY is Francis Searle's remake of the 1952 Lewis Gilbert movie EMERGENCY CALL, about the hunt for a rare blood donor and the situations that arise as a result. The identities and sub-plots surrounding the potential donors have been swapped around a bit, but the central thrust of the story is still the same.
EMERGENCY CALL was made by Nettlefold Films and distributed by Butcher's, whereas this cheaper remake is a Butcher's film through and through. The earlier film was middling, I thought, and this remake is invariably worse thanks to a cheapness of budget and general lack of interest in the crucial sub-plots.
What I did like was the wraparound story, which opens with a shocking accident scene and moves into some tense, emotional, hospital bedside stuff. Glyn Houston is a solid choice for the detective lead, and Dermot Walsh and Zena Walker do their best emoting as the distraught parents. The three sub-plots are weaker, though: the footballer one goes nowhere, the criminal one raises a decent moral dilemma but is a bit staged, and only the scientist-on-the-run tale has any interest.
EMERGENCY CALL was made by Nettlefold Films and distributed by Butcher's, whereas this cheaper remake is a Butcher's film through and through. The earlier film was middling, I thought, and this remake is invariably worse thanks to a cheapness of budget and general lack of interest in the crucial sub-plots.
What I did like was the wraparound story, which opens with a shocking accident scene and moves into some tense, emotional, hospital bedside stuff. Glyn Houston is a solid choice for the detective lead, and Dermot Walsh and Zena Walker do their best emoting as the distraught parents. The three sub-plots are weaker, though: the footballer one goes nowhere, the criminal one raises a decent moral dilemma but is a bit staged, and only the scientist-on-the-run tale has any interest.
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