GB
1947
1hr 22mins
Dir: Charles Crichton
Starring: Harry Fowler and Jack Warner
A gang of street boys foil a master crook who sends commands for robberies by cunningly altering a comic strip’s wording each week
This film is generally considered to be the first of the “Ealing comedies”, although it is better characterised as a thriller for children. The final sequences have some excellent shots overlooking Cannon Street railway bridge and station with various traction on show. Identifiable locos are a Bulleid pacific in Southern ‘Sunshine’ livery, a couple of V Class ‘Schools’ 4-4-0’s and what could be an H Class 0-4-4T on pilot duties. A couple of vintage pre-war EMUs join in for good measure. In an earlier scene filmed in Patmore Street, Battersea, as Harry Fowler fights with another child, a ‘King Arthur’ or similar size 4-6-0 can be seen in the background on the lines out of Waterloo being overtaken by an EMU. A number of trams are also visible in the final sequences, crossing Southwark Bridge.