Prismark10
From director Charles Crichton who made the classic A Fish called Wanda in 1988 is this early effort from 1947, Hue and Cry.A crime caper focussed on kids who discover a criminal ring that are using a comic strip to send instructions to plan their jobs.Joe Kirby (Harry Fowler) is a lad who is always in a spot of bother. He is placed by a policeman for a job with a Covent Garden grocer Nightingale (Jack Warner) who listens to his stories of a fur smuggling ring with a filthy laugh.Felix Wilkinson (Alastair Sim) is the scatty comic strip writer who stories are being manipulated by an insider in the publishers. As the police does not believe Joe's fantastical tale, it is up to him and his gang to take on the crooks.I must have first watched this film as a teenager. It rather reminded me of those Enid Blyton adventures I used to read as a kid. The post war setting of a bombed out London make the city look like an adventure playground for kids.It is an enjoyable Ealing comic adventure as the kids take on adult crooks and put themselves in jeopardy. Sim gives an amusing cameo.
expandafter
Don't allow the images of bombed areas of London to be used to brainwash you into believing the propaganda about W.W. II.The German blitz against London was in retaliation for English attacks against German cities.In July 1940, Churchill ordered Bomber Command to start devastating Berlin as soon as feasible, even though Germany had bombed no English cities.It was the English, not the Germans, who had heavy bombers that were designed for flattening cities. The Germans had only medium and smaller bombers.It was the war-mongering English whose policy it was to start wars in Europe in order to weaken any country that could rival their power.It was the bullies, war-mongers, and war-criminals known as the English, not the Germans, who bragged that they "ruled the waves". It was the English who bragged that the sun never set on their empire. It was the English who were lording it over the people of Ireland before and during W.W. I. It was the English who maintained a blockade of Germany for seven months after W.W. I ended, causing the death by starvation of hundreds of thousands of people. It was the English who were lording it over the people of India before and during W.W. II. It was the English who started W.W. II by declaring war on Germany. It was the English who were the first to commit the war crime of carpet-bombing cities.
tedg
Sometimes a film is worth it just because of an accident. In this case the accident is that the Germans (not the Nazis, the Germans) had decimated large parts of London, and we had that as a set for this little drama.Its a great little story too, perfect for this very successful notion of noir light.Its the old fold: writer writes and the fictional becomes real. The only concession to reality which incidentally allows it to be inserted into the noir world is that what the writer writes is tampered with on the way to the book.One scene toward the beginning is particularly nice, where a boy reading a comic sees the same thing in reality. I recommend "How to Murder Your Wife" as a much better entry in this minigenre. But this is good too. At least the first half. The second half (after the great, really great sewer scene) is a sort of noir Bowery Boys gets their man.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
greadman
When I was a 'nippah', I used to go to the cinema on a Saturday Morning, this was one of the films that they showed. It made an impact on me that I always watch it again and again.A film made in the bombed out post-war east London. It was a proto brat-pack movie (watch out for a very adolescent Anthony Newley). This film is a treasure and a classic that transcends time and generations. The plot is around a bank robbery, but around this are the bombed out scenes of the East End of London, in which the kids made their playground. These scenes are contrasted with the bright, sparkling and summery photography. There are many memorable scenes. Such as the boy re-enacting an aerial dogfight on a bombsite. He makes noises of aircraft, machines-guns, flak and bombs. These are complemented by his gestures. This scene has a genuine intensity to it, the war had obviously made an impact on him, and this intensity is shared. The other scene is that when the group of youth have to negotiate the sewer, we are shown into a subterraenean world. This had to be filmed on location, how could you build a sewer in the studio on a limited budget?. There is also the other scene where the gang manage to trap one of the female villains, they extract the necessary information from her by one of the boys threatening to unleash one of his pet white mice on her.
AD
