A Cry from the Streets

there are some new satellite channels in the UK,bad movies and matinée movies, which are showing a lot of old British films from the 40s and 50s.The sort that used to be shown on terrestial channels at 2 am.These are at times rather intriguing,because occasionally i will view a film that i saw in the cinema and think "Did i really pay money to watch this".I suppose that everyone,not least Max Bygraves has probably forgotten that he appeared in a number of films in the 50s.There is little that can be said in favour of this film except how times have changed.When Barbara Murray goes to see a foster mother one of the fostered children is actually encouraged to strike a match to light her cigarette!A child is encouraged to leave a home to go and live with his alcoholic mother.4 young children are let off a bus on their own to go wandering in a wood.If you are interested in the period then it is worth a look,otherwise give it a miss.

What's wonderful film, it's nostalgic look at social work, or should that be rose tinted view of social work ( even in its day) when the film was made. It does pull at the heart strings and it's a gem.

What a pity that the previous reviewer fails to judge the film in the context of its time ; post war London.

Its very a simplistic view of life in the 1950's that doesn't try to be highbrow or talk down to its audience.

Smoking was incredibly common in those days & the film merely shows life as it was. Children being told to go off & gather flowers on their own is certainly something that would be unusual in 2009, but in my own childhood in the 60's was 100% normal.

Its a fantastic social 'document' showing us where we have come from & perhaps reminding us that our modern predilection for wrapping our children in cotton might not be the best way forward.

A fresh-faced young Max Bygraves is charming and appealing in the first of two socially concerned dramas he made (the second being 'Spare the Rod') which touches upon such vexatious contemporary issues as juvenile delinquency, capital punishment and domestic violence. Larry Adler supplies an appropriately wistful harmonica score, and Aussie tyke Colin Petersen surprise, surprise shows a precocious talent for - you guessed it - the harmonica; on which he accompanies Max when he bursts into song in one scene.

Fortunately we don't have hanging anymore, but firearms sadly are hardly the aberration today they're portrayed as here; while it's also a sign of the times that drunken mother Eleanor Summerfield occupies a shabby but extremely spacious London flat that would today be prohibitively expensive for her to live in.

Given the subject matter, you would think this film would be unbearably frank and gritty or sickeningly sentimental. It us neither. It manages to strike a balance. It does show the 0light of children who don't have stable families, but given it being a 1950s film, it doesn't deal with some disturbing truths. It has a touch of comic relief, as needed,

This film has a top notch cast at their very best.