West 11

Michael Winner dined out for the rest of his life for testing but not casting Julie Christie for a part in this reminder of those far-off days when even Winner couldn't fail to make a watchable film

Another of that select band of films upon whose behalf fate intervened in the winter of 1963 by covering London in a picturesque covering of snow and employing probably the best cast Winner ever worked with - ranging from Finlay Currie to Francesca Annis - just the title and date tell you that you're in for a treat; with a witty script by Waterhouse & Hall, technical collaborators of the calibre of Otto Heller and designer Robert Jones (the latter with obvious relish placing Tretchikoff's 'Green Lady' on the wall of Diana Dors' apartment) and Mr Acker Bilk on the soundtrack.

Clearly a lesser known entry in the 'Angry Young Man" Brit flick dramas of the early 60s. Like This Sporting Life, Saturday Night, Sunday Morning, Look Back in Anger et al, it's all generational conflict and post war miserabilism.

This new realism wore itself out as the 60s really took hold and for many, things did change and improve. Perhaps the young lead Alfred Lynch didnt make it as Harris or Finney did, but he sustained a career over decades. Here he is supported by some stalwarts of British cinema (Kathleen Harrison, Eric Portman and Finlay Currie) and even the poor young actress (Kathleen Breck) saddled with the role of 'tart' which says everything about the double standard of the time and nothing about the character herself. But as is so often the case, the standout for talent and charisma is the much missed Diana Dors.

Despite her Rank charm school beginnings, her natural acting talent easily makes the most of the ever so slightly ageing good time girl role she has. Her charisma makes her the most compelling of all the players. Star quality that never left her.

Its not great, but its worth a watch, if only as a reasonably authentic period piece. The Director Michael Winner had more commercial success, but this may be as a good a film as he ever made.

Maybe it's because I don't much like Alfred Lynch or Michael Winner films generally, but this film dragged terribly. For me, it was only worth watching for the end credit music played beautifully by Mr Acker Bilk, a haunting piece somewhat reminiscent of Bilk's own 'Bitter Harvest' theme. There were some great 'kitchen sink' films made in Britain in the late 50's and early 60's, but this doesn't make the grade.

The beginning of the 1960's introduced a lot of interesting British films, and in my opinion ' West 11 ' is one of the finest. Alfred Lynch was one of the best actors of this period and arguably he was not given enough roles as fine as this. Michael Winner is not among my favourite directors, but somehow he captured well the life of ordinary young people of the pre-swinging sixties London extremely well. The acting is top notch and so is the depiction of the Notting Hill Gate area. By 2024 standards it looks basic but then again ordinary people could afford to live there. The story is simple; a young man tired of routine jobs falls in with a richer man played excellently by Eric Portman who wants to murder his wife, and homes in on Alfred Lynch to do it. Without being at all sensationalist we witness the consequences. The script is finely written, and among the other actors Diana Dors is moving as a woman who feels she can no longer rely on her looks, but does so with stoical resignation. I have no idea why this film is underrated, as it is again in my opinion as good if not better than trendy films such as ' Look Back in Anger ' and ' A Taste of Honey' which I thought were badly cast. An essential London film.

A minor but very smoothly made example of British film noir. Director Michael Winner, then at the start of his career, had a strong cast (Alfred Lynch, Eric Portman, Diana Dors, Finlay Currie, et al) to inhabit this starkly photographed little crime melodrama set in London bedsit-land, all tacky Notting Hill coffee bars and smoky jazz clubs.

Lynch makes a downbeat but sympathetic protagonist, more thoughtful than the usual type of hero. Portman plays the clipped-moustache ex-military man-turned-swindler to perfection. Dors is just right, too, as a blousy divorcée ("Young enough to still want a husband; old enough not get the one I want").

Winner plays up the salacious sex element a bit, but a tight Keith Waterhouse/Willis Hall script touches on Lynch's Catholic guilt, and Currie's existential search for 'truth', just enough to give the story a modicum of depth. There's also an evocative score by Stanley Black, with Acker Bilk on sax.

Until latterly a neglected, even scorned, cinema sub-genre, these usually low-budget British film noirs, often superbly photographed, were violent by the standards of their day, and showed the rain-washed streets of cities like Newcastle (Payroll), Manchester (Hell Is a City) and Brighton (Jigsaw), as well as London, could be pretty mean, too.

Winner's next film, The System with Oliver Reed, was even better.