Hue and Cry (1947)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

This is an astonishing documentary that will wring your heart while it bends your mind

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

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.

Like some other reviewers I first saw H and C at the now long-forgotten Saturday morning pictures and it was thoroughly enjoyed by just about everyone there. Such a refreshing change from the usual feature films they dredged up for us, most of which seemed to date from the early thirties and to be based om motor racing.Having seen it many times since it's difficult now to know what I remember from that first time but I do recall the remark of the sadly missed Joan Dowling when they first descended into the sewers, "Coo, dunnit pong", causing great hilarity. Easily pleased or what? Much as I enjoyed reading the reviews here I have to take issue with some. One claims that the lack of swearing among the boy gang indicated some sort of superior morality back in 1946. Actually it was because bad language was simply not permitted in films then and I can assure everyone that in real life there would have been plenty. Another stated that Anthony Newley was in it. He wasn't. I think the reviewer was fooled by the Newley-like looks of Roy, played by Stanley Escane. And a third thinks that jumping on the stomach of the chief villain and killing him was a bit strong. I saw the film recently and there is no indication that he was killed, merely winded. It was perhaps unpleasant but if anything the scene where the bent cop was catapulted and stunned was worse. That could have killed or blinded him.I was more interested in the review by Robert Temple. I have nothing against the gentleman and he is entitled to his opinion but I feel that some of his comments are misguided and on occasion just plain wrong. He seems for example to read into H and C, with its use of bomb sites and derelict buildings, some sort of metaphor for WWII but I think he's reading too much into this. The film was made on location in London in 1946 when the makers would have been hard put to it not to include bomb sites. They were an unavoidable backdrop to the action, not a part of it, though as they existed use was made of them. The film is simply no more than what used to be called a rattling good yarn and thankfully does not contain any 'messages'.Further, amid what I have to say is a welter of name dropping, Mr Temple not only (wrongly) thinks that some of the action takes place in Tilbury but also makes a glaring geographical error in placing Tilbury in the East End despite its position in Essex some 12 or 13 miles from the fringes of the East End at East Ham. While there is certainly a Chadwell (St Mary) in Tilbury this is similarly miles from the scene of the action at the end of the film which is, officially at any rate, at Wapping and I suspect that Mr Temple has confused Chadwell with Shadwell, which is next door to Wapping and therefore does come within the East End.

Though I don't think this film is particularly well regarded, or even known; this is a splendid little tale of youth as the adult world would prefer it and a rather kindly mentor in the lugubrious shape of Alastair Sim. The plot hinges on the now unknown pursuits of comic strips and collecting vehicle registration (licence) plate numbers. The humour is more subtle and understated than in the later films, indeed one can feel the transition with the years through films such as The Magnet and The Maggie before we reach the true classics of the genre. Finally, though many will link the name of the great Alastair Sim with Ealing Comedies, am I right in thinking that this, the first of the Ealing Comedies is the only one to feature him? Alastair is better known working with other studios I believe.