Ladybug Ladybug (film)

Infobox Film
name = Ladybug Ladybug
caption =
director = Frank Perry
producer = Frank Perry
writer = Eleanor Perry
narrator =
starring = Jane Connell
William Daniels
Nancy Marchand
Estelle Parsons
Alice Playten
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = United Artists
released = December 23, 1963
runtime = 82 min.
country = flagicon|USA USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id = 1:98568
imdb_id = 0057242

"Ladybug Ladybug" is a 1963 American motion picture, directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Frank Perry, about a group of school children caught up in the panic of a possible impending nuclear attack.

The film was the second collaboration between the husband and wife team of Frank (director) and Eleanor Perry (screenwriter), after their highly-acclaimed 1962 debut, "David and Lisa".

The film's title derives from the classic nursery rhyme.

Plot

During the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, teachers at a secluded countryside elementary school are asked to walk their pupils home after a nuclear bomb warning alarm goes off. What they don't know is that, in fact, the alarm was tripped by accident; but the adults and children have by this point fully accepted the long walk home. The anxiety builds as they are led home by their teacher along endless dirt roads and isolated fields. Some childerm go home and try warning their parents with no avail; with one little girl hiding under her bed from the impending attack. When the children gain access to a bomb shelter which belongs to a normally unpopular girl, she then refuse entry to a more popular girl, claiming there isn't enough room. The child searches for a place to hide from the assumed oncoming attack, finding an abandoned refrigerator, which she hides inside. An older boy leaves the safety of the shelter to go after her, but runs past the refrigerator, not knowing she is in it. The end is him running around yelling out for her, but decides to head back to the shelter. When reaching it he looks up hearing a load whinning noice, he crouches down trying to hide from a dark shadow. Then there is an explosion, then a silence, role credits with an eerie children song.

Trivia

This film was the motion picture debut of both William Daniels and Estelle Parsons.

Cast

Jane Connell as Mrs. Maxton
William Daniels as Mr. Calkins
Nancy Marchand as Mrs. Andrews
Estelle Parsons as Johnn's Mother

References

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057242/ "Ladybug Ladybug"] at The Internet Movie Database