This picture came from a newspaper article on a very different subject to the films of the time, but looking closely at it, we get a glimpse of what is showing in one particular Cinema in the West End – probably later in the summer 1953.

Abbott and Costello meet Captain Kidd with that great film actor Charles Laughton.

This was released at Christmas 1952 and did pretty well at the Box Office.

It seems a strange coupling between these two popular comedians on film and Charles Laughton but it does seem to have been a successful one but just maybe Charles Laughton wanted, in a way,to reprise his famous role as Captain Blighe but this time with a nod towards comedy and possibly a touch of Robert Newton’s Long John Silver.

It was filmed in SuperCinecolor

However I now turn to the supporting film ‘No Escape’ which ran for a mere 76 minutes but from the reviews I have seen, it was a very good thriller

No Escape 1953 with Lew Ayres, Marjorie Steele and Sonny Tufts

Quite often – and this is proof of that – a “B” picture needn’t be of inferior quality.

Back in the 1930s, Lew Ayres was on top of the world in Hollywood. After starring in “All Quiet on the Western Front”, he had a steady career in Hollywood. When he had got the lead in MGM’s Dr. Kildare series, Lew Ayres continued on his winning ways. However, WW2 arrived and he was an avowed pacifist. While he bravely volunteered to be an orderly in the military, his refusal to fight soured him with the public and the studios.

As a result, his career, with a few exceptions (such as “Johnny Belinda” in 1948), was mostly flat in the post-war years. He worked but the quality of the films declined. This is why he starred in a low-budget film like “No Escape”…a film that paired him with Sonny Tufts – who, himself, had fallen even further in his career thanks to his off-screen habits.

However No Escape turned out to be a really good and tense thriller