Escape from the Dark [The Littlest Horse Thieves] **** (1976, Alastair Sim, Peter Barkworth, Maurice Colbourne) – Classic Movie Review 8195

‘Three Daring Adventurers! Clever enough to outsmart a town… brave enough to save it!’

Director Charles Jarrott’s impeccable 1976 family drama Escape from the Dark [The Littlest Horse Thieves] is based on Rosemary Anne Sisson’s story Pit Ponies, set in a Yorkshire mining village in 1909, and stars Alastair Sim, Peter Barkworth and Maurice Colbourne.

This attractive Walt Disney Productions British-made live action production tells the story of three children – Dave (Andrew Harrison), Tommy (Benjie Bolgar) and Alice (Chloe Franks) – who rescue some pit ponies from a local Yorkshire coal-mine when the owner decides to mechanise to increase profits and the ponies are condemned to be destroyed. This daring act leads to a confrontation between the workers and the mine-owner Lord Harrogate (Alastair Sim, in his final role).

Based on Rosemary Anne Sisson’s story Pit Ponies, this is a touching, appealing tale, thoroughly well performed, that is always heartwarming but, because it keeps a firm grip on reality, never descends too deep into the slushy mine of sentiment. The film is handsome looking in Technicolor, convincingly done and extremely professional all round.

Also in the cast are Peter Barkworth, Maurice Colbourne, Susan Tebbs, Geraldine McEwan, Prunella Scales, Leslie Sands, Joe Gladwin, Jeremy Bulloch, Derek Newark, Clive Francis, Duncan Lamont, Ian Hogg, Richard Warner and Gorden Kaye.

Escape from the Dark [The Littlest Horse Thieves] is directed by Charles Jarrott, runs 104 minutes, is made by Walt Disney Productions, is released by Buena Vista, is written by Rosemary Anne Sisson, based on Rosemary Anne Sisson’s story Pit Ponies, is shot in Technicolor by Paul Beeson, is produced by Ron Miller and Hugh Attwooll, is scored by Ron Goodwin, and designed by Robert W Laing.

It was released in the UK on 26 May 1976 and later in the US in a double bill with Disney’s The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) on 11 March 1977.

Escape from the Dark is Alastair Sim’s final film before his death on 19 August 1976, aged 75 and is Duncan Lamont’s final film before his death on 19 December 1978, aged 60.

It was shot in 1975 in North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, including Arkengarthdale, Langthwaite, Ripley Castle and Oakworth railway station, as well as at Thorpe Hesley pit in South Yorkshire.

The cast are Alastair Sim as Lord Harrogate, Peter Barkworth as Richard Sandman, Maurice Colbourne as Luke Armstrong, Geraldine McEwan as Miss Coutt, Susan Tebbs as Violet Armstrong, Andrew Harrison as Dave Sadler, Chloe Franks as Alice Sandman, Benjie Bolgar as Tommy Sadler, Prunella Scales as Mrs. Sandman, Leslie Sands as Foreman Sam Carter, Joe Gladwin as Bert, Jeremy Bulloch as Ginger, Rich Moore as crying baby, Derek Newark, Clive Francis, Duncan Lamont, Ian Hogg, Richard Warner, Donald Bisset and Gorden Kaye as miner.

RIP much loved Gorden Kaye, born on April 7, 1941 in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, and known for ‘Allo ‘Allo! (1982), Brazil (1985) and Born and Bred (1978). Horrendously injured when a plank of wood flew through his car window and into his forehead in a severe gale in January 1990, he died of dementia on 23 January 2017, aged 75.

Gorden Kaye (1941–2017).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8195

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