Life in Danger

Life in Danger is a 1959 British second feature film directed by Terry Bishop and starring Derren Nesbitt and Julie Hopkins.

Plot
Hazel Ashley, an emotionally unstable adolescent, meets a casual labourer and befriends him. At the same time, news comes that Miller, a convicted child murderer, has just escaped from a nearby lunatic asylum.

Hazel goes missing, and when local villagers led by Major Peters search for her, they find her in a barn with the labourer, whom they assume is the escaped killer. Peters shoots and wounds him. When the police arrive they report that Miller has previously surrendered himself.

Cast

 * Derren Nesbitt as the man
 * Julie Hopkins as Hazel Ashley
 * Howard Marion Crawford as Major Donald Peters
 * Victor Brooks as Tom Baldwin
 * Jack Allen as Jack Ashley
 * Christopher Witty as Johnny Ashley
 * Carmel McSharry as Mrs. Ashley
 * Mary Manson as Jill Shadwell
 * Bruce Seton as George, the landlord
 * Peter Swanwick as Dr. Nichols
 * Bryan Coleman as Chief Constable Ryman
 * Humphrey Lestocq as Inspector Bennet
 * Richard Pearson as Sergeant Bert Norris
 * Celia Hewitt as woman at bus stop
 * Brian Rawlinson as male nurse

Critical reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This attempt at the familiar but always tricky subject of an average community shocked into violence by a threat to its ordinary existence – in this case an escaped criminal lunatic – has a tense opening and two mainly effective leading performances. Unfortunately realism soon takes second place to conventional thrills and a facile climax, and the supporting cast is for the most part unconvincing."

Chibnall and McFarlane in The British 'B' Film call the film a "neat, unpretentious thriller".