I Believe in You

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.

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.

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.

... more intimate, about modest people and lost youth, so there are a lot of surprising details, some funny, some disturbing. "I believe in you" is not a shocker like "All night long" or "Violent playground", it is softer and more accurate on the post war social background in rare London locations. All the casting is very effective in describing these modest people. We can appreciate young Joan Collins and Laurence Harvey. Sadly still unavailable on dvd. So many fine gems in british cinema.

I just caught this relatively "minor" British postwar film on TV, and notwithstanding the slightly conservative and paternalistic attitudes noted by other reviwers, I found this an enjoyable and really charming experience, and there are some solid laughs to be had along the way.

Cecil Parker and Celia Johnson acquit themselves admirably as the two probation officers, but the real interest for me lies in the supporting cast. Most notable is the part of the delinquent teenage girl, Norma, played by future superstar Joan Collins in her first major credited screen role. She's not that great, let's be honest, but the camera loves her. Watch out for the beleaguered court sergeant, played by the legendary Sid James, making one of his first film appearances, two years before he became a household name on "Hancock's Half Hour".

A very young, rather chubby-faced, pre-fame Laurence Harvey features as a right bad'un, but the main male "juvenile" role is filled by the wonderful character actor Harry Fowler, a former London newspaper boy (and a direct contemporary of George Cole), who lucked into movies after being interviewed on radio about his experiences of working in London during WWII.

For film buffs, this movie is also really worth watching for several beautiful performances by the supporting cast. Perhaps the most notable among them is the great Ada Reeve, playing Mrs Crockett, an elderly former actress. Its a part that closely mirrored real life - Ada Reeve was in fact a major international stage and musical variety star in the Edwardian era, and there is one very poignant scene in which Mrs Crockett implores a reluctant Mr Phipps to look at her album, which turns out to contain real drawings and a vintage photo of Ada herself as a young star. Equally delightful is the wonderful cameo by the great Katie Johnson as the dotty Miss Macklin; like Ada Reeve, Katie was a veteran star of the British stage, who started out as a child actor in the late Victorian era. This is one of Johnson's relatively few film appearances; her best-known role came three years later with her luminous, BAFTA-winning star turn as sweet old landlady, Mrs Wilberforce, in the Ealing classic "The Ladykillers".

Also, watch out for a terrific cameo by Ursula Howell, playing the drunken, shoplifting society girl, "The Hon. Ursula". She's hilarious.

Despite the somewhat dated social content, this movie has a ton of charm, a good heart, and many lovely performances, both by younger actors on the cusp of future success, and some true veterans of the British stage. A surprisingly good movie.