The film gave Melvyn Hayes one of his first big roles

Starring a young Jane Asher and Melvyn Hayes, Adventure in the Hopfields will be shown in the village of Goudhurst, where it was made in 1954.

The film had been all-but forgotten until it was found by a US film fan in a rubbish bin in Chicago.

A UK enthusiast bought the reel for just $35 (�25) but did not know that it would turn out to star a host of child actors who would go on to become household names.

Actress and novelist Asher was just six years old when she appeared in it, while it was one of the first major roles for Hayes, who went on to star in Summer Holiday and TV sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum.

The director, John Guillermin, is better known for making later films including The Towering Inferno and Death on the Nile.

Barry Littlechild bought the film

It is being shown in Goudhurst village hall by film buff Barry Littlechild, who bought the reel on the off-chance after just seeing the title.

"The company that made it did a deal for American television and they obviously got fed up with it and it got put in a skip at the back," he told the BBC Breakfast programme.

"As luck had it, a film collector was walking past, saw this stuff, took it home, sorted it through and put an advert in an American magazine, which I saw, and thought it sounded interesting."

"I ran it and not only had it been filmed just up the road in Goudhurst, but it had A-list stars.

"I couldn't believe it - a long-lost film. I thought 'this is amazing'."

Jane Asher is now an actress, novelist and runs a cake company

Many of the places shown in the film have changed, and Mr Littlechild said he is showing it in the village hall to show what life in the area was like.

Hayes said he got paid �24 per week for filming - "wonderful money in those days".

He also recalled that a fire scene at the end of the film got out of control and led to some unplanned dramatic scenes.

"The whole set was alight, the whole place was burning, they had to rescue us," he told Breakfast.

The film also starred Mandy Miller and Anthony Valentine, and was due to be shown in Goudhurst on Friday, 8 March.