Floods of Fear (1959)

People are voting emotionally.

i must have seen a different film!!

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Floods of Fear is directed by Charles Crichton who also co-adapts the screenplay with Vivienne Knight from the novel written by John and Ward Hawkins. It stars Howard Keel, Anne Heywood, Cyril Cusack, Harry H. Corbett, John Crawford and Eddie Byrne. Music is by Alan Rawsthorne and cinematography by Christopher Challis. Two convicts and one guard are washed away into a flood after the barrier they were building collapses. Ending up at the flooded farmhouse of Dr. Matthews (John Phillips), the men find that the doctor is not at home but his daughter Elizabeth (Heywood) is. Soon enough tensions rise to boiling point, especially since one of the cons, Donovan (Keel), appears to be innocent of the murder he is locked up for, and he has revenge on his mind... Something of a legend for his directing work for Ealing Studios, Charles Crichton does a fine job blending a suspenseful action thriller with film noir thematics. Though primarily known for comedies (his last film would be A Fish Called Wanda), Crichton had already shown he had a considerable eye for noir with the brilliant and under seen Dirk Bogarde starrer Hunted (1952), only difference here is that the setting is predominantly set on or near water, and it really works for dramatic purpose. The flood recreation scenes are excellent, be it our protagonists/antagonists flailing about in the water trying to keep alive, or the destruction sequences as houses and various other parts of the watery landscape falling by the wayside, there is high peril crafted out there on those waters. With Challis' (Footsteps in the Fog and latterly Arabesque) beautiful black and white photography making a mark, and Rawsthorne's (Uncle Silas/Pandora and the Flying Dutchman) musical score suitably stirring, the tech credits are high grade for such a Brit production. It's the character dynamics that really seal the deal to make this a film well worth seeking out. Keel is full on brooding machismo, who seems to have the world on his shoulders, but he always convinces as a man to turn to in a crisis. Cusack is a nutter, no beating around the bush, he would stab you as soon as look at you, and he has very unhealthy designs on Elizabeth. Which brings us to Heywood, who as the sole female of the piece gives a real stoic performance, she's constantly pulled from pillar to post, drowned like a rat, and she has to balance fear, bravado and romance, which she does admirably. While Corbett, who would find fame in the hugely popular TV comedy show Steptoe & Son, provides the requisite officialdom axis in the play. All good really. 7.5/10

I have seen this film several times since its first airing on TV in the 1960s, and I ALWAYS watch it .... it's a very compelling feature, firstly because we see Howard Keel (a popular American singer/actor in many famous Hollywood light musicals of the 1950s) and Harry H Corbett (the British co-star of BBC-TV's long-running 1960s comedy "Steptoe & Son") in non-typical roles.Secondly, the problem of being trapped in a flood, or even any natural disaster, makes for a viable dramatic background in a story of revenge and suspense. Filmed in Britain, but set in Canada, the movie points out how Nature can upset, without warning, the various plans of humans. In this particular case, it is the aim of Howard Keel to track down John Crawford, playing the man who framed Keel for the murder of his (Keel's) wife, and then took over Keel's business! Without repeating what others have said here, yes, there are some moments of outrageous melodrama typical of the cinema scene of the late 1950s, mixed in with some very exciting moments. Keel's ambition to mete out the well-deserved ultimate punishment (in Keel's mind) on Crawford is eventually mitigated by the love of the new woman in his life. All very convenient, and acceptable "for dramatic purposes".What I found unconvincing was the fight scene at the end, where Keel and Crawford rained what seemed like hundreds of blows on each other's faces and bodies, while they struggled, rolling from shack to shack. Keel got the last few blows in on Crawford's face, which by now should have been mangled into pulp.This potentially great drama ends with an almost comedic line, when some medically-unqualified labourer takes a quick glance at the bleeding, bruised and battered head of Crawford and announces to the awaiting crowd; "He's gonna be all right!" Of course, this movie's final scene fits in with the credo of those days that all films should have a "happy" ending. The fact that Keel set out with full premeditation to kill this man, but only ended up scarring him for life, does not deter the audience from accepting him as the hero of the film.As I said, the action and adventure in this movie are compelling, but the morals are somewhat flawed.

***SPOILERS*** Movie musical star Howard Keel as escaped convicted murderer Donovan doesn't sing a note and is bear chested during, with a few exceptions, the entire film. Donovan tries to make his way back to Westmills to get his hands on the person who framed him for his wife's murder construction boss Jack Murphy, John Crawford. Not only did Murphy frame Donovan in his-Murphy's-wife's murder but took control of his construction business from Donovan when he was sent up the river. With the Humboldt River now overflowing its banks Donovan plans his escape by going or swimming downstream to get to Murphy and make him pay for what he did to him.But a number of problems arise for Donovan when he's forced to save Elizabeth Matthews. Anne Hayworth, fellow convict Peebles, Cryil Cusack, and injured prison guard Sharkey, Henry H. Corbett,on his way downstream to Westmills. This together with the flood waters hinders Donovan's plan to get Murphy and puts him on the spot in getting captured by the police and national guard units who are out looking for him. Taking shelter,together with Elizaberth Sharkey & Peebles, in Elizabeth's three story house Donovan knows that it's only a matter of time when the raging floodwater's engulf the place which makes his desperate situation even more desperate. And with both Peebles and Sharkey having it in for him for totally different reasons Donovan has to work real fast before he ends up dead by them or the by now over 30 feet high and deep floodwater's that covering the entire landscape.What seems like a precursor to what's happening now with the threat of global warming and climate change "Floods of Fear" addresses these two major environmental issues of our time some 50 years before we became conscious of them. The floods are caused by the melting of the ice and snow because of the unusual high temperatures in the mountain regions that's now turning the valleys belows into lakes. Of course Dovonan & Co. has no idea of this, climate change, happening their just trying to survive the flood which by now has reached Noah and his Ark proportions.It's pretty Elizabeth who soon realizes that Donovan isn't, in his gentlemanly manor and kindness to animals as well as her, the cold blooded killer that he's made out to be. Elizabeth does everything she can to get Donovan to give himself up and prove, even thought he was already convicted of murder, his innocence! That's before he ends up killing Murphy and proves her wrong!***SPOILERS**** Very wet, with all the water in it, and interesting film about an innocent man who's out to prove that he was framed for a crime he didn't commit. Where at the same time he has to deal with nature at it's most destructive in him proving it. Donovan who when he finally tracks down Murphy decides to let the law take care of him but only after beating him, with Murphy getting a few good licks back in return, within an inch of his life. It in fact was Elizabeth who got Donovan to see the light and not blow Murphy away, with a gun pointed at his head, that turned things around for him. And changed them for the better.

A rarely seen film from Charles Crichton, the director of popular British comedies such as 'The Lavender Hill Mob' and 'A Fish Called Wanda', Crichton manages to establish an appropriately solemn atmosphere for this film, but even so, it is only passable viewing overall. There are some fine bits of drama woven into the tale, however the film has a tendency to be unrealistically melodramatic, and the dull, heavy-handed narration is no help. The floods effects are great though, and together with apt music, the film has a fair few moments of great power. It is only intermittently intense though, and the plot is completely predictable, with a typical love interest and obvious plot twists. Fans of Crichton or the cast members might find something interesting here. It is pretty watchable - just not especially well made.