Janek prend la fuite

Although this CFF feature has the usual bumbling crooks,it is essentially about Jane a young Polish refugee who is unhappy with his foster parents and runs away. He falls in for a time with Sydney Tablet and Michael Balfour as incompetent crooks,but then runs away from them to the countryside. There is some fine black and white photography.

This early Children's Film Foundation offering is one of the best of their 1950s output, featuring in all likelihood the most sympathetic of their leads ever: a put-upon Polish boy living in Edinburgh, at the mercy of a cruel mother figure, who ends up on the run and living in a 'village for children' up in Perthshire. It's exciting, action-packed filmmaking with a great grasp of character and top direction from future Bond helmer Lewis Gilbert. The presence of a couple of dopey thieves in the form of the instantly familiar Sydney Tafler and Michael Balfour is the icing on the cake.

I loved the Children's Film Foundation films shown at our local cinema on Saturdays. This early Lewis Gilbert film (You Only Live Twice/The Spy Who Loved Me) is about Janek, a Polish orphan living in Scotland, who gets inadvertently caught up in a burglary & runs away from the real thieves. Janek then stumbles into a group of children who are refugee orphans like himself. All the young actors give great performances as well as the grown up professional actors which include Jean Anderson & even John Laurie (Dad's Army). The film is available on the CFF compilation "Runaways" on DVD from Amazon. Worth a nostalgic watch.

i actually took part in this film when i was 13years old as an extra. i was at queen victoria school dunblane in stirlingshire. we were asked to take part in this as cross country runners at loch earn. and i tripped and fell and sprained my ankle and fingers actor Micheal balfour picked me up to carry me back up the side of loch earn. and the director told him to put me down and get on with the film. i enjoyed the film as an extra. and as watching the film. i would like to trace this film if it was possible? well worth watching. the film is about two villains using a boy small enough to go through the fanlight windows and steal valuables. archie downie.

Included as an extra on the BFI's Blu-ray release of the same director's Cosh Boy this was made under the auspices of the Children's Film Foundation. Much of the CFF product was of very high quality and often shown at Saturday morning picture presentations. As a punter at the time I recall not always being very happy when these supplanted our usual American superhero imports but seem very impressive now. Indeed this offering is certainly superior to the film featured on the front of the box. A simple enough tale of child refugees but much glorious location shooting out in the Scottish hills and vales and a cast of very enthusiastic children who run hither and hither just as much as young Johnny. Eugeniusz Chylek plays the young Pole and very effectively too, an object lesson perhaps for Sydney Tafler alongside whom he plays in the middle section. A delightful and well photographed film capturing well the countryside and the enthusiasm of the young actors.