This Year – London (1951)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

This is the kind of film that would probably have bored the pants off most people back when it was made but which, as it grows older and there are fewer people alive who remember Britain's post-war austerity years, becomes an increasingly valuable social document. Even if it is still a bit dull.The film follows the adventures of a group of workers from a Leicester shoe-making company who travel down south for a day in the Smoke. Most of the gents wear suits and ties, and the women seem old before their time, and they all manage to avoid staring at the camera too often as it records their special day. They pretty much do the same kind of thing tourists will do today, visiting Hampton Court after a boat ride down the river, lunch at a moderately swanky restaurant (ok, that would probably be McDonalds today), a visit to the West End in the evening. In this London, the streets are only half-full and there isn't a recognisably foreign face or backpack in site.The film is narrated by two men: a professional reporter and the factory manager who organised the trip and must make sure nobody wanders off in the wrong direction, thus messing up his meticulously planned timetable. He certainly frets over this, and it's only when everyone is let loose to explore the city on their own for a few hours that he can finally relax. You get the impression the professional reporter wrote the words for both of them, and as this film was made by British Transport little time is devoted to how this momentary escape to the spurious glamour of the Big City compares to the daily grind of life in a Northen (well, East Midlands) town.

The film follows a group of factory workers from Leicester on their annual day trip out together, this year visiting London. The film starts at Leicester station and then follows the group on the train down to London.When they arrive in London they take a bus tour round the city, followed by a boat trip to Hampton Court Palace. At Hampton Court Palace they eat a meal, then the group is set free to explore London individually.Given that this is some of the group's first time in the city, is it a good idea to let them roam free? What horrors await them in the city? You'll have to watch the film to find out!There seems to be two presenters/narrators, a posh guy and a bloke with a slightly yorkshire accent. There doesn't seem to be any live sound, except when the group are singing 'Bobbing Up And Down Like This' on the boat.The best bit is when the guy says that when he was telling the group about the Tower of London and the Beefeaters, someone had shouted out 'Corned Beefeaters!', and that he wished he had thought of that joke. It reminded me very much of the sort of jokes that the presenters on my local radio station, HFM make.For example, one of my favourite HFM jokes is: "Two chips in a bag, one says to the other 'Oooee oooeee oooeee oooeee ooo', y' know. The other says 'Why don't you get some cold water then?'" ... Absolute classic joke!Anyway, I would whole heartedly recommend this film to any fan of survival horror movies.