Some British '50s moves I
had not seen before and now appreciate a lot …
THE SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH, 1957. I can’t believe I had not seen this before.
What a marvellous entertainment it turns out to be, as nice young marrieds
Virigina McKenna and Bill Travers interit a cinema at Sloughborough (a nice
play on English town names!)
and when they travel there imagine it is the
Grand, a very grand edifice, but no, it is the Bijou – a rundown fleapit next
to the railway line (and yes its that amusing joke again, as in A LETTER TO 3
WIVES, when the the trains rattle by…). Every town then had a fleapit, though
probably not as decrepit as the Bijou (mine when new in London in 1964 was the
Coliseum, Harlesden, where one happily saw re-runs of EL CID or FROM RUSSIA
WITH LOVE as well as new double bills including SHE or 10 LITTLE INDIANS).


This is a perfect 1950s British comedy, produced by that regular team of producer Michael Relph and director Basil Dearden, screenplay by William Rose. It now seems to be called BIG TIME OPERATORS on IMDB! It would make a terrific double bill with HOW TO MURDER A RICH UNCLE.

VIOLENT PLAYGROUND, 1958.
Also by Basil Dearden, and scripted by James Kennaway, and is a tough
thriller/topical drama of the time about juvenile delinquency, with Stanley Baker as the cop/Juvenile Liaison officer
in Liverpool . David McCallum (before his MAN FROM UNCLE era) is the dangerous pyromaniac
on the loose and he seems to be apeing Marlon Brando’s WILD ONE as a
rock’n’roll hoodlum. Anne Heywood is his older sister (who might get romantically involved with Baker) and the family also
includes those two naughty twins Baker is looking after - the school kids all look so typically Fifites. There’s
also Peter Cushing as the local well-meaning priest, John Slater, Tsai Chin and
other regulars like Melvyn Hayes, as we see how these huge inner-city
estates are breeding grounds for juvenile delinquency, as in NO TREES IN THE
STREET, below. It builds to a shattering climax where school-children are held
hostage by the now demented McCallum, which has echoes of real-life tragedies.
I don’t imagine this will be shown on television ever again due to this
protracted school siege …
NO TREES IN THE STREET, 1959. A solid drama from the pen of
Ted Willis (WOMAN IN A DRESSING GOWN), and directed at full tilt y J. Lee
Thompson, another drama of poverty breeding delinquents, this is a
roller-coaster ride, starting in the 1950s present as teenager David Hemmings
is caught and warned by Ronald Howard about the dangers of getting into trouble
with the police. What follows is a long flashback about Tommy (Melvyn Hayes
again) who wants the good life he sees local racketeer Herbert Lom enjoys with
his flashy suits and flashy dames like Carole Lesley (right, with Lom).
Tommy though is stuck in a tenement block with heavy drinkers like parents Stanley Holloway, Joan Miller, Liam Redmond, and his good sister Sylvia Syms who tries to steer him in the right direction. Lom though wants Sylvia and finally wears down her resistance until she comes to her senses.

But Tommy goes to work for Lom, and
ends up with a gun and killing a shop-keeper. The snivelling killer returns to
the family as the police (Ronald Howard again) close in.
We are back in the present for the coda, when young Hemmings (left, and right, with Syms) promises to be good, as Howard and wife Sylvia see him go.
Tommy though is stuck in a tenement block with heavy drinkers like parents Stanley Holloway, Joan Miller, Liam Redmond, and his good sister Sylvia Syms who tries to steer him in the right direction. Lom though wants Sylvia and finally wears down her resistance until she comes to her senses.


We are back in the present for the coda, when young Hemmings (left, and right, with Syms) promises to be good, as Howard and wife Sylvia see him go.
Next British trio by Anthony Asquith & Anatole de Grunwald: Dirk in THE DOCTOR'S DILEMMA, 1958, and LIBEL,1959, and Sophia as THE MILLIONAIRESS, 1960. Book your tickets now ...
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