A report from the shooting of Running Scared at Braunston in 1971

Running Scared, David Hemmings' first film as a director, did not receive a general release. The consensus at the time seems to have been that it was too consciously arty for a popular audience, with Hemmings heavily influenced by Antonioni, who had directed him in Blow-Up.

This report from the making of the film appeared in the Coventry Evening Telegraph on 23 July 1971:

Hustle and bustle replace the quiet of a Rugby village. All of a sudden it is a hive of activity as strangers with sinister-looking equipment mingle with the locals.

Braunston has become the focal point of a film crew's activities. The international star David Hemmings is directing his first picture, a thriller called "Running Seared." and the canal (above) at Braunston is one of its principal locations. 

Hemmings is pictured left having a word with the actor Robert Powell who plays a leading role. Powell is better known for his role as Tobias Wren in the television series "Doomwatch." 

Chosen to double for Powell during the making of the film is Robert Smee of Braunston. They are pictured together below. 

In the bottom picture, the camera crew prepare for another take - and so the demanding business of making a movie goes on.

I have borrowed one of the photos mentioned: it shows David Hemmings and Robert Powell. You will see that Hemmings still favours white jeans some years after Blow-Up.

Among the family photographs I have inherited are some of a canal holiday from the summer of 1971, when we passed through Braunston. I must have a careful look at them.