The Yellow Balloon is a 1953 British drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Andrew Ray, William Sylvester, Kathleen Ryan, Kenneth More and Hy Hazell.

It was made at Elstree Studios with sets designed by the art director Robert Jones.

Location shooting took place around Bayswater and Chelsea including Queensway tube station.

The film is set in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, in London's East End, amongst the bomb sites.

12-year-old Frankie Palmer loses the sixpence his father has given him to buy a large yellow balloon from a street seller which the boy has set his heart on.

This develops into a terrifying hide-and-seek chase through a bomb-damaged, abandoned and highly-perilous London Underground station, with Len hot on the heels of Frankie, who is desperately trying to escape with his life.

This was because the censor felt that the chase through the London Underground station in the last reel would be very frightening for young children.