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Title: OILS FOR NEPTUNE

Reference number: 4205

Date: 1964*

Director: d. Frederick W. McLeod

Production company: Group 5

Sound: sound

Original format: 16mm

Colour: col

Fiction: fiction

Running time: 62.36 mins

Description: A group of boys accidentally become embroiled in a bungled art theft, in this fast-paced fictional adventure film. Two stolen oil paintings are thrown from a moving train, and the film follows the ensuing chase for their recovery, involving diving, secret passageways, caves and morse code.

Credits: with Tommy Sinclair, Graham Reid, Ronald Farquhar, Paul Cook, Michael Graham, Joseph McLeod, Colin Cameron and William Crichton, Archie Cook, Alistair Beattie, Frank Reid, Jack Mackintosh, Norman Joss.
principal ph. Ronald C. Miller
add. ph. William N. Arthur

Shotlist: REEL I
credits; c/u smashed window in the twilight, man walks across tiled floor of gallery; torches on oil paintings which he then cuts out of frame and steals; title (3.26) man throws paintings from moving train over a bridge, the 'baddies' pick up one and the other inadvertently floats down river, and is picked up by boys fishing baddies arrive at a house and enter; seeing only one painting is in their package, they leave to look for the other; coming across the boys' tent, fight and steal back painting again; one of the boys clambers onto back of car, unseen and travel to baddies 'lair' (8.08) ints lair with baddie using morse code; exts boys scaling down wall; one of the boys gets their foot stuck, gets sucked into mud and is consequently rescued boys climb up waterfall cliffside; baddies contact ship and mark tide chart; boys reach the old ruined house and try to evade the baddies (24.20) 657ft

REEL II
boys tied up in cellar, man lights cigar outside and sets fire to straw, smoke creeps into cellar; another couple of boys eating sandwiches outside see coloured smoke pouring out of ruined building; baddies sit in barn room and notice smoke too; they leave in car, locking door behind them; boys escape cellar; flag waving from boys, other boys break in and rescue them; encompassed by fire, escape onto roof balcony; drop rope down and scale wall to river below; rope burning, boy drops to river below; boy tumbles down river and is rescued; baddies leave building, watched by boys who go into their lair, look at marked 'tide' chart; lookout alerts baddies are coming back; boys make their way down secret a passageway, to a cave where they discover an inflatable boat and cans of petrol/diving equipment, exit cave onto the shore (19.16) 520ft

REEL III
early morning twilight, car pulls up and thieves go into the house; and boys run across hillside; ints thieves; baddies take the paintings down to the beach via the passageway, as the boys hide out of sight; paintings are placed in a creel, loaded onto a boat on the cliff edge and taken across sea; one of the older boys follows behind by swimming, strikes the thief on the head; ints other thief checks his watch, and leaves, boys plan over unconscious thief; gvs underwater diving in daylight and discovery of creel with paintings inside; one boy is rescued from the sea to the inflatable boat; the boys are forced to abandon the boat as baddies in speedboat charge them and retrieve the paintings; baddies return to shore; they are then pursued by boys remaining on cliff; gvs chase; men run to old farmhouse (10.50) [very fast, too fast 16fps?] fight scene; fire started by leak in petrol can; gvs rescued oil paintings are returned to rightful owner, boys are congratulated; The End (19.59) 539ft