Boys in Brown

Most of this film is set at a reform school for young offenders. I had to laugh at this because most of the actors are in their late 20s and some look well over 30! So the word 'Boys' in the title seems hardly appropriate!

Jackie Knowles (Richard Attenborough) is a young punk who has already been arrested for some petty crime. He didn't learn his lesson and soon is arrested again and is sent to the reform school. Jackie seems like he's not too bad a sort and he decides to apply himself, do his time and make something of himself. Unfortunately, there are a lot of guys who are more than happy to keep Jackie down...particularly the rat- like Alfie (Dirk Bogarde). When a group of the 'boys' want to escape, Alfie insists that he'll make Jackie join them....even if it means lying and manipulating to get his cooperation.

Overall, this is a reasonably well made and entertaining film which emphasizes humane treatment and reform. In many ways, it's a bit like some of the early Dead End Kids films in this respect. Worth seeing mostly so you can see Bogarde and Attenborough as they both were fine actors even when they were 'boys'!

This was one of the last films from Gainsborough before the studio was shut down as a Rank economy measure.It is actually quite a good and effective film reflecting the mood of the time.The biggest problem being the shoehorning into the boys roles of Rank contract actors.This despite the fact that there were some good teenage actors such as Harry Fowler and Anthony Newley.Bogarde is seen here just before the Blue Lamp which would propelled him to screen stardom and Jack Warner to TV stardom .This film though is far removed from Scum.

Boys in Brown is a British juvenile delinquency film from 1949, courtesy of Gainsborough and directed by Montgomery Tully.

Dirk Bogarde had made maybe 10 films - he would become noticed in his next film, The Blue Lamp.

At any rate, the star is Dickie Attenborough, with Jack Warner running the Borstal Institution, where boys who commit crimes are sent. As shown in another film, Good-Time Girl from 1948, these places apparently were under heavy criticism in England.

It's post-war. Jackie Knowles (Attenborough) is on probation for committing petty crimes. Needing money, he agrees to be the getaway driver for a jewel robbery. He's arrested and sentenced to three years in a Borstal Institution, which has the goal of rehabilitation.

Jackie has the best of intentions but is led astray by some boys planning an escape, including the manipulative Alfie (Bogarde). Knowing Jackie has a girlfriend, Kitty, he tells him that Kitty has forgotten about him and is seeing someone else. Jackie agrees to go along with the group. Trouble ensues.

Like Good-Time Girl, these kids haven't been reformed sufficiently. It was fun to see these young actors, who would come up through Rank Studios, particularly Attenborough, Bogarde, Alfie Bass, Michael Medwin, Robert Desmond, and Jimmy Hanley.

Someone pointed out that although there were appropriately aged actors for these roles, Rank used their actors who were too old for the roles, i.e., well into their twenties. They were still being trained for the most part.

Nice to hear Bogarde doing Julius Cesar.

In this well-intentioned movie, Richard Attenborough gets slung into a Borstal with Jack Warner as the warden and Derek Bogarde as the rather creepy guy who rules the cell blocks. Although the Borstal system -- which I know as turning out junior-grade spivs -- was for those youths who were less than 24 when they went in, the actors playing the boys ranged in ages from 29 through their early thirties. In their shorts, they put me in mind of 1950s Bowery Boys.

Still, the actors are good, Jack Warner utters some platitudes and the result remains watchable. With Jimmy Hanley, Barbara Murray, Patrick Holt, and the mighty Thora Hird.

Richard Attenborough is the naive young "Jackie", in love with his girl "Kitty" (Barbara Murray) but prone to getting into bad company. It is after one such escapade that he finds himself sentenced to three years in borstal. Fortunately for him, the governor (Jack Warden) believes firmly that the purpose of these institutions is to rehabilitate and so he is inclined to try and help the man; unfortunately his habit of falling for the wrong 'uns continues as he soon becomes the quarry of the duplicitous "Rawlins" (Dirk Bogarde) and his gang of would-be escapees. The film follows the path he takes to try and escape, not just from his incarceration, but from the self-perpetuating cycle of scenarios that make it impossible for him to break free and make a clean start with his life and his love. It sags a bit, this, but overall the performances are convincing and it does evoke a sense of just how despairing times must have been for many in the immediate aftermath of WWII. Jimmy Handley chips in well as another of "Rawlins" pawns, also do Thora Hird, Alfie Bass and Michael Medwin, too. There is a little too much dialogue but it is still worth a watch.