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The Fugitive

There is a baby and a bandit loose in the streets of Derry, but which one is the fugitive, the robber or the runaway pram?

Comedy 1966 5 mins

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Overview

This delightful film by Terence McDonald is rich with references from Battleship Potemkin’s Odessa steps to the US soap opera Peyton Place. The slapstick antics begin in Brooke Park, as local citizens enjoy a pleasant walk but perhaps not as the park’s founders intended. A runaway pram and a robber on the run are pursued by through the city by a multiplying mob, even the 1927 statue of MP Robert Alexander Ferguson plays his part. As the storylines collide who will save the day?

Terence McDonald (1926 – 2001) was a teacher, film historian, film collector and a pioneering amateur filmmaker from Derry. He made 35 films in his lifetime covering a wide range of themes such as mental health, travelling theatre, and portraits of his home town, Derry. His playful fiction films often pay homage to classic cinema moments from Peyton Place to Potemkin, from Chaplin to Jacques Tati. Terence McDonald undertook all aspects of production - filming, sound recording and editing and produced a body of remarkably sophisticated work. This film is courtesy of his son, Peter McDonald.