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IFI Irish Film Archive

The Fugitive

Year1966 Duration5m 00s
The Fugitive is a delightful slapstick comedy involving the pursuit of a runaway pram on the endless hills of Derry, loaded with cinematic references from Battleship Potemkin’s Odessa steps sequence to the US soap opera Peyton Place. What starts as a pleasant walk in the park becomes a chaotic chase involving a robber, a multiplying mob and even a statue of MP Robert Alexander Ferguson. Harkening back to the physical comedy of earlier cinema stars such as Laurel and Hardy and Buster Keaton, this black and white, dialogue-free short makes ample use of Derry locations such as Brooke Park and Shipquay Street, one of the steepest city centre streets in Europe (where better to run after a pram?). The Fugitive and another of McDonald’s films The Man from A.U.N.T., were intended for screening during the intermission of local pantomime performances organised by Fr (later Bishop) Edward Daly. The films ingeniously featured cast and plots from the pantomimes who appeared first on stage, then on screen. This film is part of The Terence McDonald Collection.

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