The Adventures of P.C. 49: Investigating the Case of the Guardian Angel (1949)

Wonderful character development!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Hugh Latimer is PC 49 who goes undercover to catch a gang of thieves operating in London and the Home Counties. Their MO is to find out information about lorry cargos and then just blatantly steal the lorry whilst the driver has a snack at a café. Just drive off with the lorry - zoom. It's a simple plan and bags the gang a tidy fortune. However, Hugh is on a mission and it means tracking down the boss.Who is the boss? Who is Mr Big? If you can't guess immediately, you are pretty stupid. The film screams it at you so there isn't any mystery and this somewhat ruins the tension in the climactic scenes. It's just not a surprise.The film is ok to pass the time but extremely stupid if you think about it. The plot that the police come up with is ridiculous. Part of Latimer's cover story is that he used to work for a gang with someone who actually works for the gang he is going to infiltrate. What happens when this crook - Martin Benson (Skinny) - comes face to face with Latimer and doesn't recognize him? They don't seem to have covered that base. WHAT??!! The film may not be brilliant but it just may trigger an urge in you to learn the craft of origami.

A police constable P.C 99 (real name Archibald Berkeley-Willoughby) goes undercover to get the goods on a gang of lorry hijackers helped by his girlfriend and backed reluctantly by his superiors at the police station. This is the first film of two based upon the adventures of P.C. 99 as broadcast on the BBC. There is not much mystery except for the identity of the gang leader but it moves fast enough and has good dialogue.Hugh Latimer is likeable as P.C. 99 and Patricia Cutts as his girlfriend Joan is even more appealing. There are good character actors in attendance like Pat Nye (Ma Brady), Martin Benson (Skinny) and the ubiquitous Michael Ripper (Fingers) to add flavour . Director Godfrey Grayson specialised in radio adaptations early in his career, also doing films about Simon Cherry, Dr. Morelle and of course Dick Barton.

The previous post has given the complete background details to 49 … 1949 in Britain that is! This was an embryonic Hammer shoe-string production, a companion piece to their equally enjoyable Dick Barton trilogy, and again based on a popular BBC radio series. The standard of film-making was pretty feeble but honest and imho of probable greater social relevance in the final analysis than most other British films made that year, and there were plenty of British high class classics in '49 too.Gangly Metropolitan constable Archibald Berkeley-Willoughby (PC 49) wants to be assigned to special duties to help track down a violent gang of truck hi-jackers stealing fags and booze galore. To this end he frequents all the greasy spoon cafés he can find that lorry drivers stop for a cup of char, especially dear old Ma Brady's. He cannily infiltrates the gang, which amazingly turns out to be the original Brady Bunch, displaying such a level of foresight along the way it's amazing the goodies weren't all shot to pieces well before the end. But as this was aimed at a younger audience it should be apparent right from the off whether good will triumph over bad. Hugh Latimer seemed an odd choice for the job: he looked more convincing playing the baddie in here, and was an uncomfortable woodentop for a lot of his PC scenes, while his girlfriend was well played by Patricia Cutts but with an indelibly painted on smile. The original radio pair Brian Reece as 49 and Joy Shelton as his fiancé thankfully moved in for the sequel.But still indispensable for a window on the mores of a vanished race, and also a nice hour's entertainment for the discerning. Sadly most serious people today would utterly despise this even after watching it assiduously for the hour too! I wish it had been two hours long.

Before "Dixon of Dock Green" there was "PC49",possibly of Dock Green as well,certainly some murky part of a smog bound London where the occasional car-horn was drowned by the sound of goods trains and the sad wail of ships' hooters on the turgid Thames.Created for radio,the character of Archibald Berkeley Willoughby made an uneasy translation to the world of the British "quickie" movie in the late 1940s.For a start Brian Reece who had created the role and had a huge following as a result wasn't used in the film,"49",as he was known,being played by Hugh Latimer.Furthermore, "49"'s part of London existed only in the imagination of the listeners,and bringing it to life on the screen was going to disappoint at least as many of them as it delighted.It would be easy to laugh at the world portrayed in this film,so many of the beliefs,customs and moral attitudes may seem to sophisticated 21st century audiences ridiculously naive or even reactionary.Please bear in mind that the Londoners of 1949 would find the vast majority of our enlightened" beliefs as outrageous as we find theirs.What is regarded as mainstream entertainment they would see as horrifying and obscene.This was an era when cinemas were not allowed to open on a Sunday,it was 3 years before the word "virgin" was allowed to be spoken in a movie(which was immediately awarded an "X" certificate thus guaranteeing it a popularity far in excess of its merit.Viz:-"TheMoon is Blue"). PC 49 himself was a young idealistic Met copper in the days when they wore high collar tunics and were recruited straight from the forces. He was looked up to by the boys at the Youth Club and had the grudging respect of the local ne'er-do-wells.Clean of mind and limb,we would do well to remember that men like him did exist in the bad old days when there was a blame culture and old people weren't locked away in homes the moment they became unproductive. As was the fashion at the time,49 had a fiancée - Joan - and their relationship was all rather jolly and Enid Blyton-ish.Both would have been outraged at any suggestion that they should have sex before marriage -or much of it after marriage probably.In this film she is played by Miss Patricia Cutts on whom I had a bit of a crush since I'd seen her in a "Just William" film.She disappeared from the movies for many years in the mid-fifties before appearing in "Private Road" in 1971 which sadly proved her swansong.She died at the tragically young age of 48 in 1974. 49 was absolutely sure that he was on the side of the angels,no agonising self-doubt for him,if "chummy" needed nicking he got nicked,no fannying about."Out you go,49",Sgt Wright used to say,ushering him from the office on to his beat.And off he went,happily chatting to the coaster mongers and shopkeepers,seeing old ladies across the road and confiscating catapults from schoolboys.As he dreams of hearing a shout of "Stop! Thief!" whereupon he'll take off his helmet and run like the wind with God and Right on his side,,he fades into history along with "Meccano" and "The Schoolboys' Exhibition" and,believe me ,the world is a far poorer place without him.