The Blue Lamp (1950)

Mustn't Grumble.

The Blue Lamp is directed by Basil Dearden and written by T.E.B. Clarke. It stars Jack Warner, Jimmy Hanley, Dirk Bogarde, Robert Flemyng and Peggy Evans. Music is by Ernest Irving and cinematography by Gordon Dines.

Andy Mitchell is a new recruit to the London police force, old hand George Dixon takes him under his wing and shows him the ropes. When Dixon is gunned down by a hot headed crook, Mitchell, the force, and the close knit community, all rally round to catch the villain.

What chiefly makes The Blue Lamp a fine watch is being able to witness the good old days of the British Bobby. It was a time when the copper was a feared and reassuring presence on the British streets, they walked the beat so everyone could sleep easy in their beds, help was but merely a whistle away.

In that, this Ealing Studios production does a wonderful job, the essence is perfect, the locale and the dialect used is absolutely spot on, whilst the story is an accomplished piece that brings to notice the sad emergence of trigger happy crooks, a new breed of thug who's discipline quota was zero. It also looks nice, with a film noir sheen presented for the night-time sequences, while Dearden offers up a great action scene and closes the picture down with a tense chase finale at White City Greyhound Stadium.

There’s inevitably some staid performances indicative of the time, and it definitely paints the police and surrounding community through rose tinted spectacles, but they are small complaints that ultimately can’t stop The Blue Lamp from being a most engaging viewing experience. 7.5/10

I think a lot of what makes this film resonate, even now 50-odd years later - is the stark fact that back then, the murder of a police officer was still pretty rare and was a crime guaranteed to galvanise both the police and the criminal fraternities alike against the culprit. That all helps to create an authentic scenario in which Dirk Bogarde is super as a petty thief who gets caught up in events that quickly run out of control. Peggy Evans is great, too, as the hysterical girlfriend. Basil Dearden keeps the whole thing tense and engrossing as the net begins to close and we get a gripping finale to this fairly simple film.