I Believe in You

I stumbled upon this film quite by accident (it was part of a DVD box set of Ealing Studios rarities), and I found that I couldn't stop watching. This is primarily the story of a retired diplomat named Mr. Phipps who decides to become a probation officer in post-war London. After an awkward period of adjustment, he starts to become emotionally invested in the various characters, old and young, under his care. Far from being jaded, the ex-diplomat finds himself taking risks and promising too much in a sincere desire to transform the lives of his clients. There are some vividly emotional performances here in a brilliant cast consisting of the older people (e.g. the other probation officers and the judge) and the younger people (in trouble with the law, yet capable of redemption if given the chance -- including a teenage Joan Collins in a star-making role). As the film was ending, I wished that the story could continue, and I could see how Mr. Phipps gets on. The story just feels authentic... how the probation officer's job can be so hectic and complex, a mix of disappointments, triumphs, and everything in between. I also loved the locations, glimpses into parts of working class 1950's London that we don't usually see on film.

Dearden takes a different course from 'The Blue Lamp', in this gentle and modest examination of the probation services. The lead character, the probation officer Phipps (played by Cecil Parker), is a post-Empire man who has left his job in the Colonial Office. The film being made not that long after Britain's withdrawal from India.

Phipps's transition into the role of probation officer is amusing. At first he still wears the traditional civil servant's bowler hat before changing it to a less awkward trilby. His first reaction to the young lad Hooker (Harry Fowler), reveals his upper-class outlook when he says to his colleague Matty (Celia Johnson); 'I've had trouble dealing with difficult people in the colonies you know'. The White Man's Burden is transferred from the Colonial Office on to the new 'unstable' working-class youth of post-war Britain.

Phipps responds sympathetically to a young lad named Hooker whose father died in the war and who lives at home with a cruel stepfather. Phipps goes off to Lewisham to visit Hooker and his narration amusingly comments; 'I always thought of London in terms of Knightsbridge...'. This shows that Phipps is broadening his outlook and awareness of how the 'other half' live.

Hooker is a lad on the verge of delinquency, he is attracted to another problem child, one of Matty's probationary clients, Norma (Joan Collins). Norma is young, petulant and just wants a good time. This 'good time' she wants; drinking; dancing; romance and other immediate sensations, can be provided by the young thug and spiv Jordie (Laurence Harvey). She is shown as torn between the excitement with Jordie that will lead to self-destruction and the patient, cautious relationship with Hooker that may yield a happier future.

This is a conservative film which tries to show the Establishment as becoming more understanding of social problems. However the characters of Jordie and Hooker present two faces of British working-class youth; one evil and malign; the other nice but impressionable and easily misled. The probation office shows the public as a wide range of eccentrics such as alcoholics, prostitutes and wayward youths, which ties in with Ealing's depiction of Britain as a 'community' one with it's real divisions but 'unified' by the imaginary link with the great British nation. The film has a happy ending and was one of Dearden and Relph's early 'social problem' films.

When this film was being made a new class was forming in society that would have a powerful effect on the future,namely teenagers.To a certain extent they seem to be ignored altogether in this film.As a result all the usual eccentrics would be wheeled in to this film to show that nothing had changed.Katie Johnson and her cat could have been Mrs Wilberforce with her 5 musicians.The only sop to the younger generation are Joan Collins,Harry Fowler and Laurence Harvey.Now Fowler was a decent enough bloke but do you really think that she would prefer life with him to the passionate and dangerous affair with Harvey,i hardly think so.As other reviewers have noted the air of smug paternalism overwhelms this film,be it the magistrate or the Probation Officers or the Police.

When this film was made England was still a society divided by class, one's accent, manners, clothes and speech defined one's background and determined one's future.

England was still recovering from WWII, many parts of London were still bomb sites, some food was still on ration, especially sweets, and although the manufacturer's catalogues were full of wonderful items that they were making, many were "For Export Only", essentially to the United States in payment for war loans.

Against this background of priviledge; for the upper class probation officer; and the difficult working class origins of the probationees; all set in war-ravaged London with as fine a collection of actors that could be assembled; I Believe in You is a minor classic of its time,one of the earliest films depicting real people and their problems rather than the glamourous lives of the movies the propaganda ministries wanted us to see.

Many of the outdoor locations show parts of London never before seen on the big screen, and these too provide interest for anyone interested in locations of movies.

Ealing was at it's most earnest when it decided to make probation officers the subjects of this film, entrusted to the reliable team of Dearden and Ralph (the latter's father actually featuring in the cast).

Cecil Parker for once gets a part of real substance as a former colonial administrator who quickly learns that there's a lot more to London than just Kensington and the West End, and is ably flanked by the lovely Celia Johnson. Future stars include a teenaged Joan Collins looking pretty the same as she still does, Sid James as a moustached police sergeant, Brenda De Banzie and dear old Katie Johnson as a batty old cat-lady. Ursula Howells is cast wildly against type as a drunken deb, Harry Fowler plays a tearaway with a chip on his shoulder, Lawrence Harvey is hilarious as a swaggering wide boy; but the most touching scene is easily depicting Parker discovered an extremely elderly Ada Reeve was once young.