Lonely Road

Quota quickies usually get short shrift from film historians, but 'Lonely Road' does a pretty slick job, aided by plush & mobile photography by Jan Stallich and some nice night-for-night exteriors.

Actually conceived by Nevil Shute with Clive Brook in mind, who he personally approached to play the lead role of retired naval Commander Malcolm Stevenson who (SLIGHT SPOILER COMING:) stumbles across the path of a pair of gun runners.

In a nod towards the realities of the hungry thirties one scene depicts a little old lady selling flowers in the middle of the night, while the political troubles of the period intrude in the form of a wild-eyed fanatic smuggling tommy guns - in cases identifying the contents as vacuum cleaners - to facilitate a scheme to influence the coming general election to bring about a "five year plan to save England under patriotic government".