Hue and Cry

I SO would have loved this movie as a kid; but being far too young, I'm now only getting into these lesser known Ealings as a middle-aged film lover. Hue & Cry is part of the Ealing Comedy DVD Collection.

From what I've heard from older folk and relatives about the just post- war years, this yarn is plain good old fashioned fun, but one for the boys only, whatever their age. With bombed-out London their playground and comics their fantastical relief, young boys run around pursuing adventure at every turn. This is where I get my Angels with Dirty Faces connection from.

A few disgruntled viewers say that Hue & Cry lacks focus and central characters. This is true - a boy's adventure never runs to plan and if it does, you change it! But, seen as the first Ealing comedy proper, the Studio is still finding its feet and is gathering talented people to direct (Charles Chricton, who directed many BIG Ealings) screenwriters (T.E.B Clarke, who is synonymous with Ealing) and one very accomplished cinematographer, Douglas Slocombe, who here manages some Hitchcockian imagery - such as on a spiral staircase and in a room full of circus dummies. Otherwise, it's brisk, the camera darting about, with a film score every bit as vibrant as the escapades.

No-one ever, though, denies the pull and special attraction of Alistair Sim as the eccentric Comic strip creator, a Scrooge-like hermit living at the top of those scary stairs. That he isn't on screen very much just happens to be one of those things, relish him when he is on, that's all you can do.

The story, now, to an adult takes second fiddle - lots of boyish conspiracies and such, avoiding the police and the occasional fight. Something about a missing page in their favourite comic and they have to use passwords and such, getting caught in gangster Jack Warner's wide- boy gangsterish crook (as far cry from his beloved Dixon of Dock Green!). It is the sights - and sounds - of an almost alien London, only a generation ago that makes it all so watchable - and enjoyable. Unlike today, with our comparatively lazy and health and safety pampered youth, these boy actors literally pour gusto and energy into everything, swarming over a rubbled landscape like herds of buffalo in a western.

The sound is often a bit thin and distorted but the picture quality not as bad as it could be, a little lacking in punch perhaps but surprisingly blemish-free.

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.

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.

I particularly enjoyed seeing London in its derelict state after WW2, I remember my parents taking me there in those days and seeing piles of bricks everywhere. It was amusing to read a review by an American academic whose main complaint was that the children were all white and there should have been a better balance with black children. I wonder where he thought Ealing Studios might have found such people in 1946/7 - the Empire Windrush did not arrive at Tilbury until June 1948. Indeed looking at the devastation in London in the film it is amazing that Ealing could make anything. This is something that i watched as a kid and have seen many, many times again.

Generally reckoned to be the first 'Ealing' comedy,a fondly-regarded series of gentle,humorous satires of British life in the late 1940's-early 1950's,this is actually more of a rowdy,fast-paced crime caper than what gradually developed to the above familiar style of this famous film studio.However,it is none the worse for that,with an amusing script and speedy direction by Ealing veterans TEB Clarke and Charles Crichton,and efficient performances by a mostly teenage cast.Looking from a 21st Century viewpoint,it is an astonishing fact how UK teens dressed (in dull tweed suits) and behaved (no guns,knives or bad language) in the pre-rock n' roll era;in this more cynical day and age,it would be the adults stopping the kids committing crime rather than vice versa.This actually helps the film in giving it a quaint period charm which will never be recaptured,as is the well-photographed scenes of war-torn London.Alastair Sim is billed first but the real leading man is inimitable cockney actor Harry Fowler,while the usually genial Jack Warner (a little uncomfortably) is the main adult protagonist,a ruthless villain;Sim is enjoyably buffoonish as a cartoonist,but his is basically a minor character and little seen despite his top billing. The highlight is the final battle between the criminal gang and London street urchins who seem to swarm over their prey like soldier ants.The sequence is funny,exhilarating,thrilling and even spectacular.

HUE AND CRY isn't the best Ealing comedy,and not necessarily the most typical,but despite dated elements is still largely very enjoyable and pleasantly nostalgic for older film-goers.

RATING:7 and a half out of 10.