Saturday, 12 July 2025

Children of the Damned (1964)

 

A Cold War sequel of sorts with an anti-war message that doesn’t quite attain the kind of eerie atmosphere of its predecessor.


Directed by Anton M. Leader
Written by John Briley
Produced by Ben Arbeid
Cinematography: David Boulton
Edited by Ernest Walter
Music by Ron Goodwin
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Running time: 90 minutes
Box office: $1,000,000 (US/ Canada)


Cast

Ian Hendry as Col. Tom Lewellyn
Alan Badel as Dr. David Neville
Barbara Ferris as Susan Eliot
Alfred Burke as Colin Webster
Sheila Allen as Diana Looran
Ralph Michael as Defence Minister
Patrick Wymark as Commander
Martin Miller as Professor Gruber
Harold Goldblatt as Harib
Patrick White as Mr. Davidson
André Mikhelson as Russian official
Bessie Love as Mrs. Robbins, Mark's grandmother
Alan MacNaughtan as British Army officer (uncredited)
Clive Powell as Paul
Roberta Rex as Nina
Mahdu Mathen as Rashid
Yoke-Moon Lee as Mi Ling
Gerald Delsol as Ago
Frank Summerscale as Mark



Trailer



History Hearsay podcast (transcript)

Daniel: Hi there and welcome once again to the History Hearsay podcast. The podcast that deals with historical fact, rumor along with a touch of myth and conspiracy theory. I’m your host, Daniel Farnsworth and joining me as usual is my erstwhile history hound and co-host, Dilbert Dunlevy.

Dilbert: Hi folks. So Dan old buddy, tell the folks what we’ll be delving into for this episode.

Daniel: Dill, no doubt you and the listeners out there will remember a previous episode we did about three years ago on the BBC’s History's Mysteries – Fact & Fiction TV program hosted by Denis Vaughan which investigated the so-called “Midwich Time-out Incident” that supposedly occurred in 1960.

Dilbert: Oh man! I do remember. That really freaked me out. Hey, didn’t the folks of that English village of …….aaahhh...Midwich keel over unconscious one day for several hours for what seemed to be no reason?

Daniel: Yes Dill. In fact, anyone who entered the village also apparently succumbed in the same manner. Just as mysteriously, after a few hours the villagers suddenly regained consciousness, and appeared to be unaffected. Not only that, but the military established a cordon around Midwich along with the establishment of a five-mile exclusion zone around the village for all aircraft.

Dilbert: Dude, I still have nightmares about the reports of those creepy kids with the blonde hair, weird eyes and strange powers, not to mention links to….aliens, man!

Daniel: For those who are interested in that event, please revisit episode 64 or go to the link on our History Hearsay blog which has a post on the BBC program’s coverage of the 1960 “Midwich Time-out Incident.”

This leads us to today’s historical anomaly which we have managed to piece together from testimony from sources within the Ministry of Defense who wish to remain anonymous, documents secretly obtained from MI6 / Special Intelligence Service and files from government-affiliated scientific agencies, along with the findings of a closed-door unofficial inquiry held 60 years ago formed to investigate the matter. The information derived from these sources which will be available on our blog shortly, will help to form our expose of the 1964 historical sequel to the “Midwich Time-out Incident” which we call the “Southwark Church Siege Incident.”

Dilbert: So, Dan, how’s we gonna' approach this?

Daniel: Well, Dill, We’ll take our listeners through the following main elements of this incredible incident:
  1. In England, a child possessing an astonishing level of intelligence is discovered.
  2. The investigation as to how this young boy came to possess such extraordinary intelligence and mental abilities.
  3. The discovery of several more children around the world who also possessed the same abilities as the English boy and together shared a collective consciousness along with dangerous psychic powers.
  4. The military’s attempt to study and experiment on the children.
  5. The children’s escape from their embassies and take over of a small church.
  6. The army’s besieging of the church and its intent on eradicating the perceived menace.
  7. The manner in which the stand off was resolved.
  8. Implications.
Dill, why don’t you start us off with what you managed to dig up concerning the unusual young boy and the investigation surrounding him and his strange abilities?

Read on for more....