The Key Man (released in the USA as Life at Stake) is a 1957 British B movie. The film was shot in black and white during a three week period in 1957 in response to an initiative by Anglo-Amalgamated to increase the number of British made B movies available. Directed by Montgomery Tully, the screenplay was adapted from his own original story by Julian MacLaren-Ross. MacLaren-Ross had been persuaded by producer Alec C. Snowden to write a script in late 1956 and after some doubts about the project delivered a screenplay to Snowden in January 1957, filming was started and completed the next month.The film was subsequently released in the USA by United Artists under the title Life at Stake. The story was adapted as a radio play and broadcast on the BBC Home Service in August 1960.