Film watch: Hue and Cry

[callmemadam]

Hue and Cry was the first Ealing comedy, made in 1947. What was normal life then, i.e. bombed-out London with children playing on the bomb sites, is now fascinating social history.

I watched this on Talking Pictures and loved it. It’s also available online and, I think, on Amazon. A teenage boy (Harry Fowler) is convinced that a gang of criminals is using a boys’ comic, Trump, to pass secret codes about their next raid. Adults don’t believe him, so he and a crowd of local children set about spying on their suspects. They recruit London telegraph boys, ice cream sellers and other young workers, schoolboys and some girls, too. The finale, with hundreds of kids setting on a few criminals is dangerous but turned into a delightful romp. Alastair Sim is billed as the big star but has a small part (scene-stealing as ever) as the innocent writer of the misused stories. Jack Warner also stars, rather unconvincingly. Well worth catching and, always a plus with me, quite short.

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[gwendraith]

I love the Ealing comedies and have a couple of boxed sets. I've seen that one, probably several times. I remember Harry Fowler best in The Army Game, I loved that show :)

[callmemadam]

I don't think there's an Ealing comedy I've seen that I don't like.

I never saw The Army Game but still knew all the catchphrases because it was so popular that people used them all the time.
I always liked Harry Fowler, whatever I saw him in.