A child was a witness
Movie | |
---|---|
German title | A child was a witness |
Original title | Hunted |
Country of production | Great Britain |
original language | English |
Publishing year | 1952 |
length | 84 minutes |
Age rating | FSK 12 |
Rod | |
Director | Charles Crichton |
script |
Jack Whittingham Michael McCarthy (Idea) |
production | Julian Wintle |
music | Hubert Clifford |
camera | Eric Cross |
cut | Geoffrey Muller |
occupation | |
| |
A Child Was Witness (Original Title: Hunted ) is a British drama film directed by Charles Crichton from 1952 with Dirk Bogarde , Jon Whiteley , Elizabeth Sellars and Kay Walsh in the lead roles. The film was produced by the Rank Organization and won the Golden Leopard for Best Director at the Locarno International Film Festival that same year .
action
Robbie (Jon Whiteley) is an orphaned six year old Scottish boy with indifferent and tough adoptive parents. After accidentally lighting a small fire in their house and fearing severe punishment, he escapes alone on the streets of London . He eventually takes refuge in an abandoned and bombed-out building. There the boy suddenly witnesses how jealously Chris Lloyd (Dirk Bogarde) kills his employer in the affect, who had a love affair with his wife. Lloyd has no choice but to take the boy, the only witness to his crime, with him and flee London.
The film follows the couple as they attempt to escape north to Scotland from the police . The complicated relationship between the involuntary duo is initially marked by distrust and mutual rejection. But the longer the flight to the north lasts, the closer the two get and the realization grows that they both have broken their social bridges behind them and basically have nothing left to lose. An indefinite familiarity develops, almost like that of father and son, and when the boy becomes critically ill and urgently needs medical help, Chris, who has already boarded a ship in the harbor and has one leg in freedom, has to find his way between the boy's life and his own fate, namely his return (to society) and the resulting threat of arrest by the police.
synchronization
The German synchronization was created by the Rank-Film Synchron-Produktion Hamburg.
role | actor | Dubbing voice |
---|---|---|
Chris Lloyd | Dirk Bogarde | Wolfgang Rottsieper |
Robbie | Jon Whiteley | Andreas von der Meden |
Magda Lloyd | Elizabeth Sellars | Dagmar Altrichter |
Mrs. Sykes | Kay Walsh | Annemarie Schradiek |
Reviews
“A jealous murderer takes the only witness to his crime, a shy little boy, with him on the run. When the child becomes dangerously ill, he sacrifices his almost secured freedom and turns himself in to the police. Sympathetically played crime film with great tension and strong emotional impact. "
“With all doubts about the likelihood of the plot, it is an acceptable entertainment film because of the good rendering of the main roles. Too confusing for children, however. "
Production notes
The buildings were designed by Alex Vetchinsky , George Blackler was the make-up artist and George Mills was in charge of production. The film was set in Pimlico , London.
Awards
- 1952: Golden Leopard for Best Director for Charles Crichton at the Locarno International Film Festival
DVD
- Format: Dolby, PAL
- Language: German (Mono 2.0), English (Mono 2.0)
- Region: Region 2
- Aspect ratio: 4: 3 - 1.33: 1
- Number of discs: 1
- FSK released from 12 years
- Studio: Koch Media GmbH - DVD
- Release Date: February 18, 2004
- Production year: 1952
- First performance: March 17, 1952 (England)
- First performance: October 7, 1952 cinema / 24. August 1963 ZDF (Germany)
- Playing time: 83 minutes
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thomas Bräutigam : Stars and their German voices. Lexicon of voice actors . Schüren, Marburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89472-627-0 , page 212
- ↑ A child was a witness. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Evangelischer Presseverband München, Review No. 627/1952