It's Called the Sugar Plum

A college student is involved in a hit-and-run that kills a pedestrian, and the next day someone connected to the victim turns up at his door demanding an explanation. The film tracks the aftermath rather than the event itself, focusing on conversations, mounting tension, and the student's unraveling as he tries to reconcile what happened with how to respond. The visitor's presence makes private uncertainty public, forcing choices about honesty, responsibility, and self-preservation without resolving every moral question. The tone stays intimate and confrontational, keeping the stakes personal rather than sensational.

Released in 1969, the film was directed by Barry Davis and created by Israel Horovitz, and it features Maureen Lipman and John Shrapnel in the principal roles.

Box office figures for the picture are not widely recorded, and it did not register as a notable commercial success on initial release.

Though largely obscure today, the film is sometimes brought up by fans of late 1960s cinema for early performances by Lipman and Shrapnel, and for its restrained approach to a dark subject. It turns up occasionally in retrospective screenings and niche discussions about British and independent films of the era.

Contemporary critical response was limited and modern reference sites show almost no audience voting or mainstream coverage. The movie focuses on themes of guilt, accountability, and the ripple effects of a single violent mistake, asking how truth and fear shape decisions when lives have been abruptly changed. Its small scale and emphasis on dialogue make it feel more like a stage piece adapted for film than a conventional crime drama.