Recognised as one of the best films to emerge from the Children’s Film Foundation (CFF), The Glitterballtells the story of a small, spherical, metallic alien (the ‘glitterball’ of the title) that becomes stranded on Earth after crashing into a suburban potting shed in England.
Teenage boys Max (Ben Buckton) and Pete (Keith Jayne, who later starred in the BBC series Jonny Briggs) discover and befriend the creature, helping it avoid the RAF and the clutches of a scheming thief named Filthy (Ron Pember) so it can return to its mothership.
Shot on a shoestring (like all CFF films) around Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire, the film features remarkably creative, low-budget special effects – mixing stop-motion animation, backwards filming, and trick photography – largely thanks to Brian Johnson (who worked on 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien) and Barry Leith (animator for Paddington and The Wombles).
When Steven Spielberg’s similarly themed E.T.appeared five years later, the Children’s Film Foundation hired an American lawyer to investigate any copyright breach.
The lawyer’s firm found seven “borrowings” but nothing that could be considered copyrightable, only ideas and jokes.
Max
Ben Buckton Pete
Keith Jayne George “Filthy” Potter
Ron Pember Mrs Fielding
Marjorie Yates Mr Fielding
Barry Jackson Corporal
Andrew Bradford Ice Cream Man
Derek Deadman Supermarket Manager
Frank Mills Supermarket Cashier
Linda Robson Radar Operator
Leslie Schofield
Director
Harley Cokliss
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Teenage boys Max (Ben Buckton) and Pete (Keith Jayne, who later starred in the BBC series Jonny Briggs) discover and befriend the creature, helping it avoid the RAF and the clutches of a scheming thief named Filthy (Ron Pember) so it can return to its mothership.
