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Horse Sense

1950 , Cambridge (Cambridgeshire)

Cat no. 1102

An escaped horse with good road sense witnesses several people not following the Highway Code.

On a Cambridgeshire farm, a horse, Patch, escapes from his stable and goes out onto the road. The groom goes to shut the stable door, only to find that the horse has already bolted. Patch goes exploring Cambridge, followed by his groom, Patch demonstrates his superior road sense and any opportunity, most people don't have the sense of a horse. On Trumpington Street, Patch goes visits Addenbrokes Hospital. Putting his head through a window, he finds a well-bandaged road accident victim. Patch continues exploring, whilst the film shows how people get to be an accident victim in Addenbrokes, such as an unwitting academic on King's Parade. He is not concentrating because he has his head in a book. He collides with a ladder and is narrowly avoided by a car. The film rewinds and he repeats the walk behaving properly. The groom continues looking for Patch and is nearly hit when crossing the road by a road hog in a red sports car. A hog's head is superimposed on the driver. The film rewinds and is repeated with the 'road hog' driving properly. Two men are painting a crossing near the Round Church. Children queue for the cinema. They are a rowdy bunch and knock the groom over. They are compared to a flock of sheep, and these appear on the screen. They are rounded up by a sheepdog. A policeman directs them across the road. Meanwhile, Patch is still exploring the town and is now in a residential area. A young man cycles along the road clownishly, and appears riding the bicycle dressed as a clown. He falls off the bicycle rounding a corner and narrowly misses Patch. The groom finds Patch and leads him home to the stable. As he closes the stable door, we see the slogan, 'Study the highway code before it's too late'.

Featured Buildings

Old Addenbrokes Hospital

Keywords

Accident prevention; Road safety

Background Information

Extracts from Cambridge newspapers: "As part of their propaganda campaign, the Cambridge Accident Prevention Council is making a 16rnm film, to be called “Horse Sense”. The film is in full colour and is intended to be a successor to the previous production, “Almost Human”, which is now on show throughout the world. Those responsible are Mr K.O. King (cameraman & director) and the Chief Constable, Mi - B.M. Bebbington, for the script" 9 August 1950 "Cambridge Accident Prevention Council gave a preview of their third film “Horse Sense” which deals with the adventures of a horse called Patch that escapes from its stable and wanders about the streets of Cambridge. It was filmed in Technicolor and directed by Mr K.O. King with P.S. Ives in charge of production and the script was written by the Chief Constable, B.N. Bebbington. The BBC’s John Snagge gave the commentary. " 28 August 1952 https://archive.org/stream/CambridgeFILMSChronicle/Cambridge%20FILMS%20Chronicle_djvu.txt

  • Producer : I.G. Ives (production manager)

  • Director : K.O. King

  • Camera : K.O. King

  • Editor : K.O. King

  • Script : B.N. Bebbington

  • Commentator : John Snagge

Manifestations

Horse Sense

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