The Runaway Bus is a 1954

1954 in film

The year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.-Events:*May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda...

 British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 produced, written, and directed by Val Guest

Val Guest

Val Guest was a British film director, best known for his science-fiction films for Hammer Film Productions in the 1950s, but who also enjoyed a long, varied and active career in the film industry from the early 1930s up until the early 1980s.-Early life and career:He was born Valmond Maurice...

. It stars Frankie Howerd

Frankie Howerd

Francis Alick "Frankie" Howerd OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.-Early career:...

 and Petula Clark

Petula Clark

Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...

.

Plot summary

Hapless Percy Lamb is a coach driver assigned to drive a busload of passengers (including outspoken grande dame Cynthia Beeston, kindly Henry Waterman, airline pilot Peter Jones, and pulp-thriller addict Janie Grey) diverted from Heathrow Airport to Blackbushe Airport

Blackbushe Airport

Blackbushe Airport , in the civil parish of Yateley in the north-east corner of the English county of Hampshire, comprises an airfield, much reduced in size since its heyday, a British Car Auctions site, a kart track owned by Camberley Kart Club, and a small business park...

 due to heavy fog. Unbeknownst to Percy, there has been a robbery of £200,000 worth of gold bullion at the airport and the robbers have stowed the proceeds in the trunk of his coach. Resourceful air hostess Lee Nichols thwarts their plan to make off with their haul.

Background and production

Val Guest

Val Guest

Val Guest was a British film director, best known for his science-fiction films for Hammer Film Productions in the 1950s, but who also enjoyed a long, varied and active career in the film industry from the early 1930s up until the early 1980s.-Early life and career:He was born Valmond Maurice...

 had first met Frankie Howerd backstage in his dressing room at the London Palladium

London Palladium

The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...

 where Howerd was topping the bill in a long running variety show. Guest says that Howerd was reluctant at first to make a film - 'Films? Oho, that's a dangerous game. Get your name up there outside a cinema and if they don't go in its all your fault! Thank you but no thank you!' Howerd finally agreed, but made three demands. Firstly, Guest had to write a comedy-thriller, so that if the comedy part didn't work, the thriller part might. Second, he didn't want his name first above the title. And finally, he wanted his favourite comedy actress Margaret Rutherford

Margaret Rutherford

Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford DBE was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest...

 to be in it.

Cast

• Frankie Howerd
  Frankie Howerd
  Francis Alick "Frankie" Howerd OBE was an English comedian and comic actor whose career, described by fellow comedian Barry Cryer as "a series of comebacks", spanned six decades.-Early career:...
  
   ..... Percy Lamb
• Petula Clark
  Petula Clark
  Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
  
   ..... Lee Nichols
• Margaret Rutherford
  Margaret Rutherford
  Dame Margaret Taylor Rutherford DBE was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest...
  
   ..... Cynthia Beeston
• George Coulouris
  George Coulouris
  George Coulouris was a prominent English film and stage actor.-Early life:Coulouris was born in Manchester, England, the son of Abigail and Nicholas Coulouris, a merchant of Greek origin. He was brought up both in Manchester and nearby Urmston and was educated at Manchester Grammar School...
  
   ..... Shroeder
• Toke Townley
  Toke Townley
  Toke Antony Townley, born 6 November 1912 in Great Dunmow, died 27 September 1984 in Leeds, was an English actor.-Biography:His father was a vicar and he was christened John Townley, but his first name was then changed by his parents to the surname of an ancestor. After he left school he worked as...
  
   ..... Henry Waterman
• Terence Alexander
  Terence Alexander
  Terence Joseph Alexander was an English film and television actor, best known for his role as Charlie Hungerford in the British TV drama Bergerac.-Early life and career:...
  
   ..... Peter Jones
• Belinda Lee
  Belinda Lee
  Belinda Lee was an English actress.Born in Budleigh Salterton, England, Lee was signed to a film contract in 1954 by the Rank Studios after being seen performing as a student of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
  
  ..... Janie Grey