The Blue Lamp
Directed by Basil Dearden
Written by T.E.B. Clarke and Alexander Makendrick, original treatment by Jan Read and Ted Willis
1950/UK
Ealing Studios
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] Diana Lewis: What d’ye think I am? Soft or something?
Spud: Yeah.[/box]
What starts out as a rather wholesome police procedural turns into a gritty thriller and fine character study of a punk courtesy of a young Dirk Bogarde.
The movies begins with a plea for more police presence to combat post-war crime and a look at the daily duties of a London bobby. Eventually the story focuses on PC George Dixon (Jack Warner) who is due to retire soon and PC Andy Mitchell (Jimmy Hanley), the rookie he takes under his wing. We see the pair on the beat and George introducing Andy to his wife as a potential boarder. Andy is promptly adopted as one of the family.
This is accompanied by the activities of a couple of delinquent thieves, Tom Riley (Bogarde) and Spud. Tom has talked seventeen year-old Diana Lewis into running away from home and serving as an accomplice in their next job. Separately, Andy is assigned to track her down. He finds her but she cannot be held or forced to go home because she is of age.
Somewhere along the line,. Tom gets hold of a gun. He enjoys the power it gives him far too much. He has fun seeing how much he can terrify Diana with it. Then he uses it against a policeman in the course of a robbery and the chase is on.
Bogarde is fantastic in this. I liked the way he conveyed a kid who is tough on the outside and panicky on the inside and so cocksure he does the first three or four stupid things that occur to him. There’s quite an impressive car and foot chase at the end, including the cops trying to capture their suspect from a crowded racetrack. Recommended.
The Blue Lamp won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
No movie clip so here is a montage of clips in tribute to Dirk Bogarde set to “As Time Goes By” sung by Brian Ferry – what an actor!
