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Compromised yet warm drama based during the Suez Crisis...

Jul 12th 2010 By Philip Kemp

When his English parents are killed in the British bombing of Port Said (during the 1956 Suez Crisis), 10-year-old Sammy sets out to trek the 4,000 miles south to his aunt in Durban. Alexander Mackendrick’s film was compromised by the timidity of producer Michael Balcon, who excised key scenes. But something of the strangeness and alienation Mackendrick was aiming for still comes through and there’s an appealing warmth in the relationship between Sammy and the old diamond smuggler (Edward G Robinson) who becomes his surrogate dad.