Hue and Cry (1947)

So much average

Perfect cast and a good story

Best movie ever!

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

HUE AND CRY is the first of the classic comedies made by Ealing Studios although the comedy is in short supply here as this becomes more of a juvenile detective/adventure story involving a group of kids thwarting a gang of crooks who plan their next jobs using a serialised story in a comic. It sounds far-fetched and it is, but at the same time it's a lot of riotous fun.Overall, HUE AND CRY feels much like one of the classic Enid Blyton detective stories, except done with a harder edge. Indeed, there's quite a bit of action here in the form of fisticuffs and chase scenes and it's quite hard-hitting despite the protagonists being kids. The plot is fast-paced and engaging and the film evokes a wonderful sense of place as we see the kids playing in the post-war bombed out ruins that littered British cities during the era. As ever, Alastair Sim contributes a memorable supporting role.

HUE AND CRY tells a straightforward tale of how the Blood and Thunder Boys, a gang of teenagers led by Joe Kirby (Harry Fowler) foils a plot to smuggle illegal furs led by his boss Nightingale (Jack Warner, cast engagingly against type as a villain). On the way Kirby encounters a variety of lowlife characters including good- time girl Rhona (Valerie White), crooked shop-owner Jago (Paul Demel) and a spiv (Joey Carr). Yet Joe emerges triumphant, not least because he is assisted by a large gang of youngsters, including Scot Alec (Douglas Barr) and Rhona's work-colleague Norman (Ian Dawson). The film contains a memorable cameo from Alastair Sim as Felix H. Wilkinson, a scatterbrained writer of lurid popular fiction who tries to charm Joe with a glass of ginger pop but is eventually blackmailed by the teenager into helping solve the crime.Perhaps the film's greatest asset, however, is the way in which director Charles Crichton uses the locations of war-torn London to tell his story. The Blood and Thunder boys have their hideout in a bombed-out building, full of secret corners and ruined beams for them to play in. As they pursue Rhona along the London streets, we understand how shabby the city looked at the time of filming, with very few commodities for sale in the shops. The city was also highly socially stratified, with stark contrasts between the poky terraced houses where Joe's family live and the expansively appointed detached houses in the suburbs (most of which received comparatively little damage during the Blitz). On the other hand London was much quieter at that time; very few cars adorned the streets, and horse-drawn carts were still very much in evidence, used mostly by tradespeople.Despite its basic good humor, HUE AND CRY offers a radical vision for post-war Britain. It suggests that the old social order, where children should be seen and not heard, has collapsed; anyone can now achieve their aims, so long as they are prepared to fight for them. Director Crichton also suggests that postwar London is also a center of petty crime; a combination of stringent rationing and lack of availability of fancy goods provided a rich hunting-ground for black marketeers such as Nightingale. Yet perhaps people had a right to expect something more - after all, they had just spend six long years fighting for their freedom. Crichton offers the possibility of a solution by showing the children triumphing - perhaps youth will help to usher in a brave new world of prosperity.

Eccentric boys' adventure writer Felix H Wilkinson (Sim) has his copy - "The Enthralling Adventures of Selwyn Pike and his Youthful Assistant Smiler" - altered by master crooks, using a special code through the pages of kids' comic 'Trump'. Only sharp-eyed schoolboy Joe Kirby (Fowler) seems to have noticed, but fails to convince a sceptical Detective Inspector Ford (Lambert).Undeterred, Kirby enlists the help of a gang of bombsite-dwelling little cockneys, the self-styled 'Blood and Thunder Boys' to up-end the criminals' dastardly plans. Wilkinson is persuaded to alter his copy and catch the robbers, headed by Kirby's boss Nightingale (Warner, cast against type as a baddie), and Trump secretary Rhona Watson (White).Originally billed with the slogan, "The Ealing film that begs to differ", Hue And Cry is less a comedy (actually, it's Ealing Studios' first acknowledged 'comedy') than a thrilling adventure story for older kids; the occasional punch-up scenes are peculiarly realistic. Director Crichton weaves a fantastic, but bizarrely believable yarn, helped no end by his unsentimental, dedicated cast.The standout performer is Sim, whose potty writer, despite limited screen time, pretty much waltzes off with the entire picture - whether he's castigating the crooks ("The insolent scoundrels, they've purloined one of my codes - the very code I invented for the 'Case of the Limping Skeleton!'") or tremulously backing out of the deal ("Remember what happened to Nicky the Narc in the 'Case of the Creeping Death'?").Acclaimed cinematographer Dougie Slocombe makes great use of post-Blitz London locations, including Holborn Viaduct, Docklands, and Covent Garden - particularly for the climactic scenes of hundreds of boys teeming Battleship Potemkin-fashion down the capital's steps toward the scene of the crime. While an almost incidental scene of a small boy re-enacting an aerial dogfight on a bombsite leaves viewers in no doubt about the psychological impact of the World War II on a new generation.

This was the first of the Ealing comedies and after fifty years it is still entertaining.The only thing that hasn't stood the test of time is the overacting of Alistair Sim as a writer of boy's adventure stories. The kids in the film are wonderfully natural.Pictorially it is an interesting look at a London still suffering from the war. Most of the film was shot on location and the kids playgrounds were the bomb damaged buildings. During the climatic scenes there are some magnificent shots, taken from above, where it appears as though every kid in London is rushing through the streets to help capture the criminals.Oddly enough, although very different, the movie had somewhat the same scenic look as THE THIRD MAN. Both were set in bomb damaged cities and in HUE AND CRY there is even a scene where the kids escape through the sewers of London, predating Harry Lime's famous scene in the sewers of Vienna.North Americans may find the accents rather a deterrent but I think the film is well worth the effort.