Seven Days to Noon is a 1950 British drama / thriller film directed by John Boulting and Roy Boulting. Paul Dehn and James Bernard won the Academy Award for Best Story for this film.
Plot
The film is set some time in the 1950s. The British Prime Minister, (Adam), is sent a letter by Professor Willingdon (Jones), who works at Britain's Atomic weapons development facility, the Wallingford Research Centre, from-which he has surreptitiously taken a nuclear warhead. It is a very explicit threat that Willingdon will destroy the centre of London in a week's time, at noon (hence the film title), unless the British government declares that it is to stop all stockpiling of nuclear warheads. Detective Superintendent Folland (Morell) of Scotland Yard's Special Branch is charged with tracking down Willingdon and stopping him.
Arriving at the (fictitious) Wallingford Research Centre (based on the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment {AWRE} at Aldermaston), Folland's team find Willingdon missing, along with a nuclear bomb. Willingdon's assistant Lane (Cross) is recruited to help and they return to London to search for him.
Willingdon, carrying his bomb in a Gladstone bag, finds lodgings with Mrs. Peckitt (Hickson), but spooks her with his constant pacing around his room during the night. The following morning, he leaves early and seeing a 'wanted' poster with his face, disguises himself with a new coat and a quick moustache trim.
Folland's team plan for the worst and get Cabinet approval to evacuate London. Rumours begin to fly that another war is about to be declared, and the Prime Minister agrees to do a radio broadcast to try and quash these, and appeal to Willingdon to give himself up.
The next day, Willingdon's daughter, Ann (Manahan), turns up at Folland's office to demand some answers. Folland tells her all and asks her to stay and help - she may be the only person the professor will listen to.
Mrs. Peckitt reports Willingdon to the Police, thinking that he is a 'landlady murderer' reported in the paper, but a quick-thinking constable realises the description better matches Willingdon and a car is sent to check him.
Unfortunately, Willingdon spots it on his way back to his lodgings and makes a quiet get-away. Driving back to their hotel from the police operations centre, Lane and Ann Willingdon spot the professor and try to catch him. An updated description is quickly circulated.
That evening, Willingdon bumps into 'Goldie' (Sloane) whom he met earlier by chance. Without any lodgings, he bluffs his way into using her spare bed for the night. By this time, London is being evacuated and Willingdon decides to lay low. The troops have begun to search and Goldie's bedsit seems a good place to remain hidden.
The streets cleared, Willingdon makes his escape and finds his final refuge, a bombed-out church. The net steadily closes and Willingdon is finally found, praying. Lane, Ann and Folland arrive to try and talk the professor away from his bag. He panics, runs from the church, and is killed by an even more panicking soldier. With seconds to spare, Lane has the bomb defused.
Selected cast
- Barry Jones as Professor John Malcolm Francis Willingdon
- Olive Sloane as Goldie Phillips
- André Morell as Superintendent Folland
- Sheila Manahan as Ann Willingdon
- Hugh Cross as Stephen 'Steve' Lane
- Joan Hickson as Mrs. Emily Georgina Peckett
- Ronald Adam as Honorable Arthur Lytton, the Prime Minister
- Marie Ney as Mrs. Willingdon
- Wyndham Goldie as Reverend Burgess, the vicar of Wallingford
- Russell Waters as Detective Davis
- Martin Boddey as General Willoughby
- Frederick Allen as Himself, a BBC announcer
- Victor Maddern as Private Jackson
- Geoffrey Keen as the loudmouth in pub
- Merrill Mueller as the American commentator
- Joss Ackland as a policeman at the station
DVD release
This tense, fast-paced, well written and well acted thriller became available on DVD in 2008. It is incorrectly framed in matted widescreen, a process not developed until two years later.
References
Notes
Bibliography
- The Great British Films, pp 144–146, Jerry Vermilye, 1978, Citadel Press, ISBN 080650661X
External links
