JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

claudg1950 I cannot imagine what people saw in this film. Frankie Howerd is irritating to me, not because he was more gay than Liberace (no problem there) but because the movie is not about him being gay. His character is supposed to be straight, but he was such a bad actor that he behaved all the time like a drag queen. The first few minutes of him --coming in and out of a window while complaining like Jim Parsons on steroids-- painfully last forever. Clumsy Howerd wasn't even capable to decently imitate driving; the mimic he does with the bus' steering wheel is incredibly idiotic. And throughout the film he keeps playing his one-note supposedly funny character, which manages to ruin the other film-noir plot the producers threw in. If forgiveness is granted to Howerd on the argument of his not being an actor but a comedian, then he should have been a comedian (i.e. funny). He wasn't. At some point the screen writers seem to find hilarious to make him fall in a ditch of dirty water. It is clear this type of pie-in-the-face humor is strictly for blue collar types. This is not what we foreigners have in mind when we praise British humour. Margaret Rutherford adds another insufferably rude character to the screen. The sole redeeming factor here is the beauty of an unrecognizable young Petula Clark as the stewardess, and Belinda Lee's sex appeal. Regrettably not reasons enough to like the film.

bkoganbing Frankie Howerd who for some unexplained reason never got big stardom on the big screen made a very funny feature film debut where he plays a bus driver in The Runaway Bus. In fact part of the plot is that he's driving the bus for the wrong company.It's supposed to be a regular bus, but a very pushy stewardess for British Overseas Airlines Corporation (BOAC) played by Petula Clark manages to dragoon Howerd into driving a shuttle bus that BOAC has for its passengers. Nothing is flying at Heathrow because of the fog, but the company will shuttle some passengers to another airport where they can make connections.One of them wants to real bad because they've just stolen several gold bullion bars from the Bank of England and they're trying to affect a getaway. The problem is just who among the passengers is the thief? And the suspicions are not just confined to the passengers.Complicating things is the fact that Howerd in the fog manages to drive the bus to an abandoned village that the British Army uses for war games. Believe it or not, it's all both pretty funny and suspenseful at the time. Such various and sundry characters as Margaret Rutherford, George Coulouris, Terence Alexander, and Belinda Lee are all passengers on the bus. They all deliver performances well within their typecasting range.Howerd never got big screen stardom on either side of the pond. His real fame was on the small screen in the United Kingdom. For me this was a nice introduction to his brand of comedy. I liked it and I think so will you.

audiemurph If you love the old British comedies of the post-war years, such as those starring Peter Sellers and Alec Guiness, then this movie is right up your alley. Runaway Bus contains all the trademarks of great English comedy: eccentric British characters, fast and witty dialogue, and, what I think makes them really funny, the British habit of saying things in a much more sophisticated and complicated way than us slangy Americans ever would. All enjoyable and innately funny.Anyway, there are no obvious stars in this film, like those gentlemen mentioned above. This was my first exposure to British star Frankie Howerd (even his name is spelled funny), and once I got used to his never-ending parade of facial contortions, I found him quite amusing. Margaret Rutherford is the only actor (-tress) I recognized, and she played her quirky strong-willed role as wonderfully as ever.The pacing of the film is quick, but what I think really makes this movie above par is that you are never sure about who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. You will definitely change your mind multiple times, and the script does a wonderful job of leading you down one path only to change direction a few moments later. You think you know who did it, but then you are sure you are wrong. The surprises and one-liners come fast and furious all the way to the final line.This is a fun film full of classic British motifs. If this is your thing, I highly recommend it.

Neil Doyle If the sight of MARGARET RUTHERFORD poking everyone around with her umbrella and making an overbearing nuisance of herself is your idea of a fun comedy, THE RUNAWAY BUS is your ticket.A British comedian by the name of FRANKIE HOWARD mugs his way through most of the broad comedy which involves a group of passengers stuck in the London fog at an airport where nothing is functioning. He's the bus driver who gets them away from the airport in heavy fog. The plot gets thicker when some gold bullion is stowed aboard the bus along with a bunch of odd passengers. PETULA CLARK, in a non-singing role is a perky airlines clerk. GEORGE COULOURIS adds a bit of menace as a mysterious man.The absurd ending is completely incredible. Typical British misfire with its humor only engaging enough in uneven stretches of comedy.An easy one to skip, even if you're a Margaret Rutherford fan. Definitely not a comedy for all tastes.