A Boy, a Girl and a Bike

..........and wonderful to do some star spotting with these early post war British films, with the likes of Diana Dors, Thora Hird, Tony Newley, Honor Blackman (just about recongnisable!), Maurice Denham. Megs Jenkins etc. etc. not forgetting my wife's favourite actor Leslie Dwyer - Mr "Punch & Judy" Partridge. : - )

Ahh yes, no traffic to speak of, no yellow lines and quiet peaceful villages - what therapy! How I remember England.

This movie has evaded me for a long time, originally seeing it in Skipton, which is featured in the movie. I couldn't remember the title but it turned up in the DVD 'Diana Dors collection'. It has matured like old wine and the little romances within the main theme make me wish I was back there again. It's a pity it is in black and white : the scenes are good in this medium but they would have been stunning in colour. It is a real advert for 'Come to West Yorkshire for your holidays' particularly since much of it has since been cleaned up revealing its natural beauty.

PS. We don't really talk like that in West Yorkshire - honest!

When John McCallum's roadster damages Honor Blackman's bicycle, he takes a liking to the mill girl. However, this annoys her boyfriend, Patrick Holt.

There are a lot of subplots in this story about a Yorkshire bicycling club, and a lot of handsome trucking shots of its members, particularly the ladies from behind, especially eighteen-year-old Diana Dors. the Yorkshire town and its environs are beautifully shot by DP Ray Elton, recently graduated from documentary shorts. He would later become a documentary producer.

Mostly though, it comes off as a paean to post-war prosperity. Like the Huggetts series, it's about the dances and bicycling and good times, now that the war was past, even as Miss Blackman's father wrangles with his mother-in-law about his sweets rations and control of the radio dial. the times are changing, and even though McCallum's parents are old-fashioned and snobby, his interest in Miss Blackman smacks of a new, classless society. Anyway, it's fresh-faced, 24-year-old Honor Blackman, best remembered now for being a Bond Girl and for THE AVENGERS.

This film is a very good representation of a northern England mill town of post WW2. The characters although credible are not typical of the peoples found in the area at the time. This movie was filmed in and around my local town and as a historical aid it is valuable though not wholly reliable.

'Appen this is of it's time and place, and no mistake. The torrid world of Northern bicycle clubs comes under the unflinching gaze of director Ralph Smart with some vigour for a good hour and 25 minutes. Then, suddenly, it just can't be arsed to pedal any further and wraps up one plot strand with unseemly haste while leaving another dangling. At least the interesting cast and breezy tone keeps it watchable.