The Boys

The writings of Charles Dickens are known, apart from their obvious entertainment value, as chronicles of the times in which he lived highlighted by over-the-top characterizations and true-to-life environments. So it is with this movie.

I won't dwell on the plot - suffice it to say that it's presentation is sufficiently original to hold the viewer virtually spellbound in an emotional roller-coaster (big dipper to you Brits!) Rather, the value of this movie is the tantalizing peek it affords us to a Great Britain in general, and a London in particular, immediately pre-Beatles.

This movie is a "must see" for those who wish to visit or re-live the London of 1962! It's a gritty, no holds barred look at the time between Harold (You-never-had-it-so-good) Macmillan's nineteen fifties and the Swinging Sixties.

A court case ensues when four youths are on trial for the murder of a man at a garage, and theft of monies.

The film is incredibly clever, the case is given for both prosecution and defense, with witness cross examined throughout. The film cleverly gives both sides of the argument, it asks the question 'can you judge a book by its cover?' Does the fact that someone looks a certain way mean that they'll behave in a certain way? It is such a clever film, one that makes you think and question all the way through.

Fantastic production values, and superb performance, Richard Todd was excellent, but the show stealer for me had to be Robert Morley, a commanding and charismatic performance, he was superb.

I was surprised by the level of quality here, 9/10

Having just directed Cliff Richard in 'The Young Ones' (in which Robert Morley had already lamented that youngsters those days routinely carried coshes and flick knives), director Sidney Furie continued to show the potential that would soon find full expression in 'The Ipcress File' adroitly juggling flashbacks and a wide screen crammed with familiar faces like Wilfred Brambell (already playing a seventy year-old) and youngsters like Tony Garnett (who later produced 'Cathy Come Home' with fellow cast member Carol White and died this year aged 83).

Made with the routine excellence of it's time taken for granted by critics of the day, but acclaimed in 2021 by Simon Heffer - of all people - as "not only a magnificent kitchen sink, but one of the finest films of the whole era". At the time the treatment seemed harshly contemporary but today seems charmingly old-fashioned; taking us back to an era when London was still pockmarked with bombsites, Surrey Quays was still called 'Surrey Docks', the local pictures was playing 'Hungry for Love', with Simone Signoret, girls wore beehives, lads shaved with safety razors and wore a jacket and tie for a night out. And the judge wore a black cap to pronounce that the miscreant in the dock was for the Eight O'Clock Walk.

Why have I never heard of this film before? Why is it so unknown? I watched this last night on BBC4 as part of the courtroom drama season (I do love a good courtroom drama) and i wasn't exactly expecting much, I'd never even heard of 'The Boys' before. And sure enough, when the film opened, i got what i expected. It was clumsy, ill paced and badly timed. But THEN...it got going! After 20 minute i was gripped, amazed at how well the film manipulated my emotions, making me sympathise with different people at will, changing my mind at every turn! The flashbacks are dealt with superbly, without the cheesy, dreamy dissolves and instead the witness testimonies abruptly change in to the actually events. Without going into too much detail on the plot, the way that the truth is subtly hidden from the audience is masterful, and it grips you even as much as something like The Lady Vanishes (which is saying a lot!) From its unpromising start, the film just keeps on getting better until its chilling conclusion, not only will it provoke your emotions but also your mind. It certainly isn't as beautifully shot as To Kill a Mockingbird, or as well acted as 12 Angry Men, but it's every bit as powerful and i think that this deserves to be recognised as one of the all time great courtroom dramas.

I came across this film channel-hopping late one night and got instantly hooked, partly by wondering how the writer might twist the courtroom action but mainly for the fabulous B/W images of working class London in the era between the dreary 50s and the swinging 60s.

Well worth watching, too, for a sterling cast of British troupers, as well as a genuinely unexpected ending.

And good, too, to see some political awareness slipped into the action with its portrayal of working-class Londoners, as well as an acknowledgement of boredom - not many many films are brave enough to show their characters genuinely trying to deal with boredom!