London Belongs to Me

A nicely evoked 1930s setting provides much interest for a viewer in the early 21st century; unfortunately, "London Belongs to Me" has little else to recommend it besides lashings of quaint English charm. All of the problems rest with the deeply unfocused story. The main plot concerns the actions of young lad Richard Attenborough, the problems he gets into and how the community in which he lives bands together to save him from society's laws. Or something. The main issue here is that Attenborough's character brings everything upon himself and, quite frankly, is guilty of almost every accusation brought against him, so it's baffling why the film (and all the characters) have so much sympathy for him. He's treated as a victim of circumstance when he really, really isn't; and what's more he isn't shown to have very much remorse for his actions, only caring about getting away with things he didn't mean to do. Alastair Sim gets a lot of screen time in a subplot that has absolutely nothing to do with the main plot line and you wonder what he's doing there (though Sim is, as always, superb). You know there's a problem with the structure when the main plot impacts constantly against the subplot but not vice-versa. And, following a sedate pace and a careful build up, the plot completely falls apart in the last 20 minutes with a deeply unsatisfying and unexplained conclusion which doesn't even show us if Attenborough's character has developed at all from the previous proceedings. The film doesn't end, it just stops.

The acting, direction and the general feel of the film can all be commended but unfortunately the story and structure of the piece jars constantly. A last point of trivia: Alec Guinness based his performance in the vastly superior film "The Ladykillers" on Alastair Sim's performance in this film, right down to both the characters having almost identical first scenes.

Good but not great story of group of characters living in a London boarding house in 1938. The story begins well and then starts to meander all over the place with the ending so weird that it borders on the surreal. Standout performances by Alastair Sim, right around the time of A Christmas CAROL, and Faye Compton as the widow he entrances. Hugh Griffith pops in late in the film to chew the scenery and bring a few chuckles. The cinematography is good and a nightmare sequence reminds one of DEAD OF NIGHT. There is a warmth about the film, one that was made in 1948 and looks back at London ten years earlier, that should appeal to all Londoners as well as Anglophiles around the world. A good film for a rainy afternoon with a"cuppa" and a scone.

Richard Attenborough leads a somewhat disjointed cast in this rather lengthy drama. He is "Percy", a rather impressionable young man who lives with his beloved mother (Gladys Henson) in a boarding house amidst a host of interesting lodgers. Sadly for him, he is soon mixed up with the wrong sort - some small time hoodlums - and becomes a murder suspect. I suppose the house to be a metaphor for the broader United Kingdom following the end of WWII - a collection of the aspirational, the optimistic, and the resigned - but there are too many characters for us to keep tabs on, and though the efforts from Alastair Sim as the Dickensianly titled "Mr. Squales"; Stephen Murray, the lovely Fay Compton ("Mrs. Josser") and a superb series of scenes, rather late in the day, from Hugh Griffith all stand up fine on their own, the film as a combination piece is pretty much all over the place. Attenborough tries hard, and at times he does fire on all cylinders, but he isn't quite good enough to pull all the strands together, nor is the Sidney Gilliat direction/screenplay, so it can come across as just a little too much of an episodic compendium of loosely connected stories rather than a cohesive feature. Still, it does provide us with quite an interesting observation of post war London and of a way of communal life now (mercifully) long gone for most of us.

The quaint, dated elements of old British, black and white, post-war films are just my cup of tea.

Intimate insights into the lives of a disparate group of characters, forced to tolerate each other, is the sort of thing only the British do expertly.

Numerous familiar players all excel in their respective roles with stand-outs being Alistair Sim, Joyce Carey, Fay Compton and Richard Attenborough whose convincing portrayal of a terrified good boy gone wrong is palpable.

Great atmospheric music, photography and narration, along with the acting, make this a priceless gem of a film.

If , like me, you love the plays of Terence Rattigan then "London Belongs to Me" belongs to you too.

This film seems by turn to be a comedy,a drama,a romantic film,and a horror film.There are so many different styles in this film.Likewise the acting,from the restrained Wylie Watson to the wildly over the top Alistair Sim and Hugh Griffiths.You then add in the nightmare suffered by Richard Attenborough whilst awaiting trial,which seems to have been inspired by Dead Of Night.At times this film feels as if it has been written by such diverse talents as Noel Coward and Terence Ratigan.Attenborough as usual plays a bit of a coward and it is really hard to sympathise with his predicament.A really strange film.Although quite long it nevertheless holds the viewer as you don't know what is going to happen next.