Escapade (1955 film)

Plot summary

A husband and father has become so pre-occupied with a political cause that it leads him to neglect his familial responsibilities, leading to his children running away from home.

Cast

Production

The film was produced at Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames, in Surrey.

Critical reception

In The New York Times, Bosley Crowther wrote, "DON'T let the presence of such cute fellows as John Mills and Alastair Sim in the British film, "Escapade," fool you. This quaintly moralistic little picture, which took over yesterday from the long-run "La Strada" at the Trans-Lux Fifty-second Street, is not a comedy. It is a curiously notional and impractical expostulation against war, obviously well-intended but as humorless as a labored gag...Played with an air of forthright mischief, this slap at adult muddling might be appropriately sardonic and amusing. But there's nothing mischievous in the stilted and self-conscious manner in which director Philip Leacock has put it on the screen. The dialogue is ponderous and the actors—especially the kids— spout it out as if they are preaching sermons. The effect is depressingly flat"; whereas Leonard Maltin gave the film three out of four stars, calling it an "Ambitious, insightful, solidly acted drama about the cynicism and hypocrisy of adults and the idealism of youth. Stick with this"; and TV Guide gave the film two out of four stars, calling it, "...an okay comedy with a message, but the play was better."