Pool of London (1951)

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Conceived as a crime thriller set in London's now-vanished docklands around the Tower Bridge area, POOL OF London is both tautly directed (by Basil Dearden) and ably performed by an ensemble cast including Bonar Colleano (in a rare leading role), Earl Cameron, Renee Asherson and James Robertson Justice. But perhaps its chief merit lies in its documentary realism: Dearden locates the action in the bomb-damaged streets of the City of London, where even the famous landmarks such as St. Paul's Cathedral seem shabby. The interior sequences take place in a tatty variety theater (even in the early Fifties the music-hall survived, although attracting tiny audiences), smoky bars and a doubtful-looking after-hours club full of crooks and a good-time girl (Rowena Gregory). Many of the characters are 'on the make' - such as downtrodden acrobat Charlie Vernon (Max Adrian), who teams up with a shady gang of crooks including safe-cracker Alf (Alfie Bass) to initiate a diamond-robbery. In a London whose people have to survive on very little money and continuing rationing, any get-rich-quick scheme will be readily embraced. POOL OF London also communicates some of the casual racism dominating British society at that time - in spite of his upstanding nature, Johnny Lambert (Cameron) is almost inevitably considered a shady character or potential crook on account of his skin-color. Pat (Susan Shaw), an attractive young white woman who keeps him company while he is ashore, is likewise considered aberrant for choosing to be seen in public with him. The society depicted in POOL OF London is both small-minded and desperate, trying to make ends meet yet refusing to acknowledge some of the profound social changes taking place around it. Perhaps Johnny makes the right decision in choosing to return to his ship, with the intention not to return to London in the foreseeable future.

I had avoided this film, mainly because of the male lead. While Bonar Colleano (son of an Australian Circus family) executes his role as an over confident small time American smuggler admirably, I can't help feeling this film needed a star of more international renown. Perhaps Richard Widmark, or Howard Keel (both had made dramas in England) would have given the film a wider appeal. In real life, Colleano eventually married his pretty co star Susan Shaw, who sadly fell to drink following Bonar's tragic death in an auto accident, at only 34. The support cast are all hard workers and ensure you quickly get caught up in the action. Award nominated writers, John Eldridge (who also died young at 42 due to bad health) and Jack Whittingham (A.K.F. The Divided Heart '54, Mandy '52) weave a fast moving story, leading the viewer down an eternally twisting path that's peopled by an interesting assortment of characters. Bermudian born Earl Cameron scores in his first major dramatic part, he's the lonely seaman, tired of bouts of racial abuse, then finally being 'set-up' in a vicious heist. It's a pity that fine character actor Lawrence Naismith (Amazing Mr Blunden) is wasted in a very small role as a bigoted racist. Excellent Director: Basil Deardon (The Blue Lamp '50, Sapphire '59) uses many unique locations (most now gone due to the 'Docklands' re-development) to marvelous advantage. His Director of Photography: Gordon Dines, turns in striking visuals, matching Deardon's flair, with one top sequence following another...through to the exciting finale.John Adison's music score sets off well, with an off beat dramatic style for the Main Title, although this unfortunately gives way to some conventional background scoring. Not quite up to his 1956 'Reach for the Sky', or 61's 'A Taste of Honey'. This film should be far better known ~ any lover of British crime dramas should not be disappointed. Unfortunately, I saw this film on local TV (Gem Australia with their way too BIG, way too bright 'PINK' logo, etc - will they ever wake up?) but, I'm told the recently released DVD quality is good. Any Tram enthusiast wanting to see a round cornered, double decker English Tram, has got to own this title.

Pool of London is that city's harbor – think of Liverpool – and the title of an offbeat, satisfyingly bleak thriller from the post-war years (one scene uses the still-standing wall of a bombed cathedral as its backdrop). In fact, its location shooting preserves a dockside area, almost certainly now vanished, that had changed little from Victorian days.Into the Pool sails the Dunbar, out of Rotterdam. As the merchant seamen on board debark for liberty, the movie starts out as a slice-of-life drama centering on two of them: Bonar Colleano and Earl Cameron (the Bermuda-born actor plays a Jamaican native). We see them link up with the women left behind, or freshly met, and watch them indulge in some harmless smuggling: Nylons, smokes, booze. But as he makes the rounds of London's raffish nightlife, Colleano is approached to smuggle a package back to Rotterdam. He doesn't know what it is, or much care, but his avaricious girlfriend (Moira Lister) sniffs out a fortune in diamonds, taken in a heist during which a watchman was killed. Colleano, who's been pinched for petty contraband before, has arranged for Cameron to take the package on board. But now the police are on his trail....Subdued and humane, Pool of London touches on some progressive themes (racial prejudice, interracial romance) but soon tightens its focus into an arrestingly photographed suspense story. The heist itself is carried out by music-hall acrobat Max Adrian – ironic because Colleano's the actor who came from a family of circus daredevils.

A crewman and part-time petty smuggler named Dan MacDonald suddenly finds himself a leading suspect in both murder and a diamond robbery when he agrees to unknowingly smuggle the wrong item for the wrong people. There's a great build-up of suspense towards the end with both Scotland Yard and the real robbers on the trail of Mr. MacDonald.This film is pretty unique--one of its best features is Earl Cameron as Johnny Lambert, the sole black crewman on board ship and MacDonald's very good friend. The level of friendship between these two men is refreshing to see in a film from 1951. Also a potential romance between Johnny and a wonderful white girl (named Pat) he meets nearly blooms and we are made to feel sympathetic to their desires (at this period in time deemed inappropriate by many) as an audience. There are a number of entertaining characters in this film. Unique is that one of the robbers is actually an acrobat and makes use of it in the robbery.The film has a very realistic feel to it-like something which could possibly have happened and the words written for characters to utter here is very thoughtful and reflective. An underrated film.