We Are the Lambeth Boys

What's really clear from early on in this documentary, is the sense of community these lads exude. Their daily jobs - from the lively to the mundane, or their schooling, all just a means to an end. An end to an evening where they will congregate with the girls - who just as hard as them - and dance (often to live music), chat and generally have a good time. Many look like the archetypal "Teddy Boys". Skinny ties, hair slicked back and dapper: jackets and shirts and never far from a cigarette. There's a playful respect for the opposite sex and Tony's fish bar does a rare trade when they emerge from the Alford House club before going home to a variety of family circumstances. Their chat is interesting too - sometimes just banter, others more substantial topics - like the relative merits of the abolition of the death penalty! Their team spirit is also evident on a trip (in the back of what looked like an army surplus lorry) to the posh Mill Hill school for a game of cricket and a tea. What's also remarkable is just how their whole environment is respected too. Their Kennington housing estate is clean, well maintained and the residents seem to care about where they live and how they relate to their neighbours. Sure, these lads push the envelope at times - a slight degree of chauvinism creeps in when they do some wolf-whistling, but somehow there is never any menace in their intent. It's high jinx and given many would have been conceived as the blitz was in full swing, their attitudes seem optimistic and positive. The fly-on-the-wall nature of the filming comes across as authentic, though maybe a little staged at times, and it evokes memories of when you could get a fish supper for 3 shillings and 4 pence!

Alford House is not a typical London youth club. It is a very good one – friendly and alive with 350 active members. This film looks at the drop-in youth club that provides something to do for the young people of the area before then following a selection of them through their working hours and evenings.

It is perhaps easy to not be engaged by the approach of this film, which was part of the BFI funded "Free Cinema" movement of the late 1950's.Turning on the multitude of UK cable TV stations now and you'll find loads of fly-on-the-wall documentaries whether looking at the staff of airports, driving instructors, police on a Saturday night or the lives of office staff in various businesses. They are inexpensive to make and seem to get the viewers constantly. However this was not the case forty or fifty years ago and this should be bore in mind when watching because this is the approach this film takes.

The film is hardly as sharp as modern documentaries (I mean "documentaries" by the way – not the cheap "drunks falling over on the street" reality trash that ITV would have us believe are documentaries) but it is still quite interesting in the painting of life for this small group of young people. I assume these rowdy and aimless youths must have been an issue for worry back in the day (shows that fashions change but very little else does) and this film was a way of looking at the issue. Reisz shoots the film with a natural unobtrusive camera and the result is quite interesting. Personally I wanted it to be a bit less neutral and have more commentary to it in order to direct it to a point or a challenging suggestion etc. The subjects themselves don't say enough to do this but the narration doesn't offer much more than filling in round the edges of what we are seeing.

The look at life forty years ago was what held my interest most of all though, because it is amusing to see what "rebellious youth" once was! That said though, evenings of mucking about followed by food down the chip shop then home would suggest things aren't that different – particularly when youthful noise is frowned upon by passengers by on the bus journey. An interesting documentary then that is worth seeing as part of the formative approach to documentary making that is so much a given now. Flatter and not as sharp as I would have liked but still interesting.

1958... the moment my mother was 3 years old. it's funny to see how the young people of those days had a party. the life portrayed in this so called 'documentary' could be as staged as the cannibal attacks in Cannibal Holocaust. but still, it remains images we don't know anymore and by that, this movie is certainly a documentary, even if it is not. because we see a portrait of a group of girls and a gang of boys, it takes us back to life in 1958, because movies imitate life. by that, I am sure this picture has got some interesting value. and for the older movie lovers, this is a welcome comeback. especially to the music in that period, music we have lost now (and that's a pity, because it's happy music that will make your blue days feel better). however, I strongly doubt that the voice-over told what he actually was thinking. no, I think he just read something on paper. or maybe he was interviewed for hours, something that is hardly the case in those days. but to tell you the truth, this documentary is not that interesting. after almost 30 minutes of something I believe is staged, the situations get pretty boring. maybe it's because I never witnessed that period with my own eyes. conclusion: this documentary is interesting, but boring as well.

This 1950s documentary follows the daily lives of a handful of young people who are probably between 16-18 years of age, and already hard at work at menial jobs by day to afford their fish and chips for supper.

Much is made of the constructive activities they do at the youth club - some sort of primitive YMCA meets the local dance hall - that apparently keeps them away from booze, drugs and crime but not from copious amounts of cigarettes. I found it interesting how freely they were allowed to smoke in an atmosphere that attempted to cultivate their minds with sports, drawing, sewing, intelligent group discussion and a nightly chance to swing dance.

Some of this was surely staged in an attempt to show "the kids are alright" but it also speaks volumes about the classism and prejudice against the working class in 1950s Britain that this film had to be made at all.

Worth a second viewing or more.