Die blaue Lampe

London just post-war was still a Victorian city. As the police cars chase the villains along mainly traffic-free roads there is a strange void in the sky - the council estates with their tower blocks are ten years or so in the future. I'd like a closer look at Gladys Henson's kitchen. She's got rid of the old range and cooks on a gas stove in the scullery, but still has a mantelpiece stuffed with nicknacks. Her scenes at home are so touching. At first she can't bear the thought of a lodger in "Bert's old room", but she quickly comes round to Jimmy Hanley as a guest. Another sign that we are in a vanished world: everybody is so THIN! Rationing was still going in 1950.

One of the few British efforts to make the kind of 'gritty city' movies that the Americans did so well (Ritt, Cassavates, Kazan). Tibby Clarke wrote this before his (imho) finest work - 'The Lavender Hill Mob' & the climactic chase sequence of TLHM has its more sober counterpart here. This particular chase sequence would definitely rate as one of the best for the '50s. The social commentary in the beginning about old crime vs new crime (old money/ new money) jars the more politically correct '00 ears, but it definitely adds to the charm.

The most interesting performance is definitely the hugely talented Dirk Bogarde's. As the psychotic thief/ killer he sends a shiver down your spine even today. The pathetic slouch with the cold, cruel eyes stands as far apart as possible from the staid & begonia-sprouting policemen of the New Scotland Yard. And the sound of passing trains that overlaps his fits of rage? Brings back (unwelcome) memories of Jean Gabin in 'La Bete Humaine' - hv I spelt that right?

For those of us on this side of the pond The Blue Lamp is like the striped pole for barbershops only in the United Kingdom it hangs above the entrance to police stations. The Blue Lamp is a story of a pair of helmeted beat cops working out of Paddington Station in London, one a fairly new recruit, the other an old timer thinking of retirement.

The roles are played by Jimmy Hanley and Jack Warner respectively. Hanley was a favored callow juvenile player, doing those roles way past the age he should have is an earnest young officer trying to do his best to make good on the job. Jack Warner who was a music hall performer as well plays the older officer, a kindly veteran who is married to Gladys Henson who both take a parental interest in young Hanley. Their own son had died, most likely in the recent World War. In fact in the shooting on location in London you can see many unpleasant reminders of the war in bombed out buildings, still not repaired or replaced by 1951.

While Hanley is being mentored by Warner, there are a couple of punks played by Dirk Bogarde and Patric Doonan who are busy themselves. They're not taken terribly seriously by really professional criminals. As the film is narrated in talking about wannabes like Bogarde and Doonan it reminded of what John Wayne said in The Shootist that the ones you have to watch out for are the hotheaded amateurs. That's these two in a nutshell.

The Blue Lamp was Bogarde's breakout role and he's charismatic to the nines. He's every young girl's idea of a bad boy they'd like to have a romp with before settling into respectable married life. Such a girl is Peggy Evans who is fascinated by Bogarde and his disrespect for conventional behavior. Look at the home she comes from and you can see why she wants to escape.

The Blue Lamp won the BAFTA award which is the UK equivalent of the Oscar for Best Picture for 1951. It made Dirk Bogarde an enduring star in British cinema and it's a nice tribute to the London Metropolitan Police Force.

It's interesting that the robbery and shooting that is the subject of this movie doesn't even occur until almost 45 minutes into the film. This really isn't a complain, really, but more a statement about how the film was constructed. Instead of a typical linear film with a predictable format, this one is instead a realistic drama that emphasizes the routines and typical police work instead of a single crime. And, once the crime occurs, watching the police work was at times mundane and lacked the pizazz of some films but also made the film excel when it comes to realism. Stylistically, some might call it Noir or Noir Inspired--but the film deliberately avoids the lighting, language and grit of true Noir.

As for the acting, it generally was excellent. The policemen were very good--not overly glamorized or macho--but very believable. So, when the widow receives word that her husband died from his injuries, you feel very touched--he was a "real" person and not just a plot device. In fact, this scene was truly exceptional. The killer, Dirk Bogarde, is in one of his first films and is much better than I would have expected--he was menacing and a truly nasty piece of work! The only negative was Peggy Evans, as Bogarde's girlfriend. First, she was supposed to be 17 but was 25--and looked every bit of 25, if not more. Second, I think the director must have told her to scream incoherently if she didn't know what to do in a particular scene, as she did this a lot--too much, frankly.

Overall, it's a darn good police film. Realism seemed to matter over everything else and it was refreshing to see. In many ways, it reminded me of the American film, NAKED CITY, as the everyday police work and procedure was THE star of the film. Highly underrated and well worth seeing.

This was made just five years after the end of the second world war. Some old folk I spoke to as a kid told me that when they were kids there were no gangs of youths on the streets: there were gangs of men. After the second world war, we began to see the emergence of youth crime. It has grown since then, practically spiralling out of control.

When we look at this film from the frame of reference of the early twenty-first century, this film where the London underworld joins with the police to track down the killer of a policeman looks unreal. If you have read any of the reminiscences of police officers of the period (such as Robert Fabian's "Fabian of the Yard") you will see that this sort of relationship between the police and the underworld is right on the button. This is the sort of thing that would have happened.

The type of policing that this film portrays belongs to a bygone era, when criminals often didn't have cars to make their getaways. It also shows the advantage of the beat copper, who knows his beat so well that if there is anything unusual he notes it down, and if there is any trouble, he has a fair idea of who is causing it. And the pair played by Jimmy Hanley and Jack Warner showed perfectly the inexperienced learning from the experienced. The situations, such as the costermonger being continually told to "move along there" are real for then but not for now, when police work, once done using discretion, is now, like everything else, done by bureaucracy.

The film is shot in north London, in the Paddington, Maida Vale and Westbourne Park areas. P C Dixon's beat is round by the Grand Union Canal in an area known as Little Venice. The police station is the old Paddington Green station, which has since been knocked down and replaced by a new one on the Edgware Road.

What you must not do is watch this film and judge it by today's standards. I am old enough to know that the social conditions portrayed in this film are as realistic as it gets; and so is the way the police operate.

An excellent film.