Innocent Sinners

I was very young when I saw 'Innocent Sinners'. The story and harmonica music by Larry Adler captured an 11 year old. I sat mesmerised in the front row of the ABC cinema in Eltham High Street, south London. Up to then, I'd had to view (Saturday morning matinées were de rigeur) films from America that had nothing in common with my life or the life of any children I knew. This was my first film view which had raw music to underscore a story. Was this combination of music and film an early example of the art? The story was a British story with children who were post-war survivors of the Blitz. I grow a wild flower in my garden in honour of this film about gardening in the rubble. The flower is Rose Bay Willow Herb or 'Fireweed'. The seeds thrive when burnt. The survivors of the Blitx knew the flower only too well on the bomb sites of post-war London.

I read the book "An Episode of Sparrows" in 1976 as part of an exam. I loved the book from go to woe even thought the whole way through the exam I referred to Tip Malone as Skip Malone (Lost a few marks there) nerves getting the better of me.

It never occurred to me that there might have been a movie made about this novel. I got up through the night a year or so ago and switched on the telly. It's prime time viewing for those who love the old B&W's. The movie which was just about to start was "Innocent Strangers". I didn't relate this title to the title of the novel. I was ecstatic when I realized what I was watching. It didn't disappoint at all.

This is one of those British films of the 1950's that never made much of a stir, and you'd probably be lucky ever to see it now (I've only seen it once, on British TV, many years ago). But don't on any account miss seeing it if you ever get the chance: it's a truly enchanting little film, and it haunts me to this day.

The main character is a rather lonely little girl (something of a misfit, akin to the main character in The Member Of The Wedding), who has nothing to do and nothing remotely beautiful to look at in her slummy neighbourhood in post-war London, so she decides to make a garden for herself in a bombed-out church, using increasingly ingenious methods to get hold of the seeds and gardening tools.

Other characters - especially a couple struggling desperately to keep their business afloat (a tiny Italian restaurant with only about half a dozen tables in it) - help to make it one of the best 'feel-good movies' I've ever seen. The IMDB doesn't credit the actress who plays the main character with a single appearance in any other film, but it's a terrible shame: from what I can remember, she was a real 'natural', very like Hayley Mills in Tiger Bay (another unjustly neglected British film).

Just viewed this flick on TCM and was hooked right from the git-go. It's a must see if you ever get the chance. It's a story about the trials a tribulations of a young lady in post war England. She totally totally captivates the viewer. Every review is a positive. You will love it. But whatever happened to the star June Archer?

What a lovely movie. Filled with all the old values which made British Movies so special. I'm glad to say that Talking Pictures TV has included this gem in their schedules.