Calamity the Cow

Calamity the Cow is a 1967 British film directed by David Eastman and starring John Moulder-Brown and Elizabeth Dear. It was written by Eastman and Kerry Eastman and made for the Children's Film Foundation. The film featured Phil Collins as a teenage actor three years prior to his joining Genesis.

Plot summary

Farmer Grant's children get him to buy a cow from another farmer. The children work hard to make the cow fit and healthy enough for the show ring. But at the last minute the other farmer, Kincaid, steals Calamity.

Cast

John Moulder-Brown as Rob Grant
Elizabeth Dear as Jo Grant
Stephen Brown as Tim Lucas
Phil Collins as Mike Lucas
Josephine Gillick as Beth Lucas
Grant Taylor as Mr. Grant
Honor Shepherd as Mrs. Grant
Alastair Hunter as Kincaid
Michael Warren as Ringer
Desmond Carrington as Uncle Jim
Ken Goodlet as Lefty
Peter Halliday as Sergeant Watkins

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Against a background of village and farm-life, this children's film is filled out largely in terms of slapstick. The nicest touch is the Heath Robinson contraption which the children build from material they find in a junk-heap – an old bath and bits of a bedstead – to transport the cow to the show. The slapstick ranges from flying paint from a can on a revolving horn gramophone to the predictable but vigorous action of Calamity biffing the villainous Kincaid into a water trough. Fields and country lanes provide pleasant settings for an agreeable piece of children's entertainment."