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Calling All Cars
Calling All Cars
	Opening titles
Directed by	Maclean Rogers
Written by	Charles Robinson
Produced by	E. J. Fancey
Starring	Spike Milligan; Cardew Robinson; John Fitzgerald; Adrienne Scott
Release date	1954;
Running time	43min
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Calling All Cars is a 1954 short film directed by Maclean Rogers, starring Cardew Robinson and John Fitzgerald. The film also features Spike Milligan voicing the thoughts of "Freddie", an old taxicab featured in the film.

The film is a mixture of semi-documentary about the port of Dover and a comedy about two young men who decide to chat up two girls and follow them to Dover in an old taxicab.

Cast

Spike Milligan as Freddie, the taxi (voice)
Cardew Robinson as Reggie Ramsbottom
John Fitzgerald as Tom Lester
Adrienne Scott as Beryl Grant
Pauline Olsen as Marjorie Grant
Margot Bryant as Mrs. Flit
Gloria Brett as Mavis Grant

Production

The two principal actresses stop for tea, en route to Dover, at the former "Fantail" restaurant building in Locksbottom, Kent.

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This second feature wavers curiously between farce and sequences which look as though they were devised to publicise the Dover Harbour car terminal. A fairly lengthy section, accompanied by some painfully facetious cross-talk between Reggie and his friend, deals factually with the construction of the terminal; for the rest, the film provides some remarkably unamusing adventures on the Dover Road."^[1]

Chibnall and McFarlane in The British 'B' Film called the film: "a poor man's Genevieve (1953) filmed at the Dover Harbour car terminal."^[2]

References

^ "Calling All Cars". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 21 (240): 72. 1 January 1954 – via ProQuest.
^ Chibnall, Steve; McFarlane, Brian (2009). The British 'B' Film. London: BFI/Bloomsbury. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-8445-7319-6.