More than child's play?
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Leyland, Ford, Fodens:and MAN public relations men must be worried. Last week in London at the Classic Cinema in Oxford Street, the Children's Film Foundation Ltd of London presented what they called a special performance of its films. Big Wheels and Sailor dealt with the hijack of a heavy goods vehicle, and an unidentified expensive cargo.
According to the Press release the film was having its first public screening and dealt with the adventures of three youngsters travelling in their fathers "enormous container lorries which deliver goods throughout the country."
The vehicles were fitted with CB radio, used by the children to effect the rescue of the Ford Transcontinental which had been hijacked. They call up a MAN which eventually led to the appearance of two Leylands, a Foden and a further MAN. As you can guess, all lived happily ever after.
The audience of almost 300 children was unmoved until one of the bandit vehicles, a Ford Transit, burst into flames — upon which there was loud approval — and when two of the children in the rescue fell into the water in a quarry pit, there was loud applause and laughter..
wonder if the police would give the same acclaim to the use of the as yet outlawed CB radio and whether the insurance companies would approve of two children travelling in the cab of the Ford and the MAN with their dad.
While the film will make good cinema or afternoon television for the under-five's, it does nothing for the image of the transport industry.