i must have seen a different film!!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

There's something to be said for the dozens of methods of public transportation and the billions of stories which arise out of them every day in every city lucky enough to have them. For the dozen or so people on the London bus just before midnight ironically on Friday the Thirteenth during a horrible thunderstorm, their fates will all be questioned with the sudden collapse of a construction crane.Like the oft-filmed "The Bridge of San Luis Rey", this flashes back to the last 24 hours of their lives up to this point, but here, there were only two fatalities and only a few injuries. An all-star cast of British actors (some familiar to American audiences from later films) run the gamut of types from sleazy blackmailer, busy businessman, an ex-con, sexy chorus girl, philandering husband and a dizzy wife who keeps forgetting to re-order the marmalade. Moods swing from light comedy to heavy drama and other sequences hold the interest more than others. Mary Jerrold is adorable as the sweet businessman's wife who spends most of the film fretting over a letter she forgot to deliver. Future "Santa" Edmund Gwenn is the frustrated husband tired of his aging wife's forgetfulness who doesn't realize that with the strike of lightning and the nearing strike of the Tower of London's clock at midnight, fate might strike a blow to his life which would change the course of his life. Musical comedy favorite Jessie Matthews gets a few delicious wisecracks as a basically innocent chorus girl who still knows a few things about men to keep them in line.Fortunately, if you forget about the opening sequence just before the accident, you will have the opportunity to re-visit it with more details once you get to know who is who. The end is one of those great moments of coincidence, a tag-line involving two characters who were not a part of the accident, and a view of what the real definition of fate really is.

This is an exceptional film. It is part comedy, part drama, part suspense. The dialog is exquisite. Most of the actors and actresses were very famous in their time, and for good reason. You will probably recognize someone, even if you don't usually watch older movies. They are also each in a role that particularly suits their talents. One correction to make on another users comment is that two people, not one, are announced to die in the accident. Maybe the unlucky two are a reflection of what the writer considers important in life. The movie is too engaging to worry about who it is until it happens.The story is ahead of its time, but it does not lose the quality of an older movie. Time and effort was spent perfecting the camera's view and the soundtrack, something modern movie makers tend to forget.

Why Jessie Matthews, one of Britains top musical stars, was in this movie in between her sparkling "The Good Companions" and the classic "Evergreen" is a good question? When I first saw it I was really disappointed. I wanted to see her sing and dance - she was billed as "Millie - the non - stop variety girl" but there was more stop than variety.Now I see it as a good little drama.It is about a bus crash and the stories, leading up to it, of the people on the bus.Apart from Jessie Matthews, who is great as Millie - Sir Ralph Richardson plays her fiancée ( yes, that's right).Edmund Gwenn - who went to Hollywood to co-star in Lassie movies and also with Natalie Wood in "Miracle on 34th Street", plays a grumpy businessman. Gordon Harker is his very annoying partner.Emlyn Williams - who wrote "Night Must Fall" was the black - mailing villain and Frank Lawton, who went to Hollywood and appeared in "David Copperfield" and "The Devil Doll" is the young man in trouble. Sonnie Hale who was married to Jessie Matthews at the time played the bus conductor.

This movie pops up now and again on the ABC in Australia at about 3 am in the morning.It starts off with the scene of a bus crash in London.The films has got flashbacks of each character as the film progresses, plus the lapsed photography of Big Ben winding back, to symbolise what events occurred thirteen hours ago, up until the bus crash.It took me a while to understand it, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.If Sean Cunningham and Quentin Tarrantino got together and made a film, this may be the result - due to the flashbacks and small stories tying in, and deaths.I am unsure of the main characters, as it has been a while since I have seen it, but a rare gem indeed.