Cloudburst (1951) – Nostalgia Central

The first Hammer film to be made at Bray Studios, Cloudburst follows Canadian John Graham (Robert Preston), who is living in London in 1946 and supervising the cryptology department for the British Foreign Office.

His British wife Carol (Elizabeth Sellars) – who is expecting their first child – is killed in a brutal hit-and-run by fugitives Mickie Fraser (Harold Lang) and Lorna Dawson (Sheila Burrell), who are fleeing from a botched robbery where they killed a nightwatchman.

John – who had been a Special Ops commando during the war – sets out to exact revenge for Carol’s death, hatching an elaborate plot and drawing on his tactical wartime skills.

He utilises a secret network of his former WWII commando buddies to track down the car, which leads him, in turn, to Mickie Fraser, a washed-up prizefighter.

After ambushing and interrogating him, Mickie cracks and reveals Lorna’s name and whereabouts.

John then drives over Mickie on a deserted stretch of road, killing him while making it look like an accident.

Tracking Lorna proves more complicated, as Scotland Yard begins connecting Mickie’s sudden death to John. Inspector Davis (Colin Tapley) arrests Lorna, aiming to use her as bait to draw John out.

Learning that Lorna is being transported by police car to Windsor, John lays a trap for the police convoy and snatches Lorna to complete his violent revenge. Blinded by a fit of pure rage, John executes Lorna by running her over with his car multiple times, mirroring the horrific way she and Mickie killed Carol

Inspector Davis and the police then arrive and capture John, who realises that his elaborate, cold-blooded vigilante crusade did not ease the grief of losing his wife, but simply transformed him into the same type of monster that killed her.

The film’s ending was stipulated by the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC), who were deeply uncomfortable with the film’s extreme vigilante violence. The original screenplay had John committing suicide by drinking poison to escape the law.

The censors refused to allow a vigilante protagonist to escape legal justice, and Hammer Films was forced to rewrite the ending so that John was shown to be arrested and about to serve a life sentence in prison.

John Graham 
Robert Preston
Carol Graham 
Elizabeth Sellars
Inspector Davis
Colin Tapley
Lorna Dawson
Sheila Burrell
Mickie Fraser
Harold Lang
Peggy
Mary Germaine
Jackie
Thomas Heathcote
Sgt. Ritchie
George Woodbridge
Chuck Peters
Lyn Evans
Mrs Reece
Edith Sharpe
Thompson
James Mills
Kate
Daphne Anderson
Cardew
Edward Lexy
Johnson
Noel Howlett
Carter
Robert Brown
Constable
Charles Saynor
Doctor
Gerald Case
Porter
Frederic Steger
Milkman
Stanley Baker
Desk Sgt.
Martin Boddey

Director
Francis Searle

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