Rent Pool of London (1951)
3.8 of 5 from 84 ratings
1h 22min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
A ship sails into the Pool of London, and for the few days it is loading or discharging, it becomes as much a part of the Pool as the wharves and warehouses, as the buildings of the city itself. To the tugmen, the watermen, the customs, the river police, it's just another job -usually. However, everything changes for two sailors on shore leave when they inadvertently become caught up in a crime as murky as the great river itself. For one of them, Johnny, life is further complicated when he falls in love with Pat, a local ticket seller, forming one of the first inter-racial relationships in British film. Produced by Ealing Studios on location in the City of London itself. 'Pool of London' was filmed on the River Thames and it's wharves, on London Bridge and in the blitzed streets around St. Paul's, and is an authentic and unmissable slice of film history. - Actors:
- Bonar Colleano, Susan Shaw, Renée Asherson, Earl Cameron, Moira Lister, Max Adrian, Joan Dowling, James Robertson Justice, Michael Golden, John Longden, Alfie Bass, Christopher Hewett, Leslie Phillips, Mae Bacon, George Benson, Arthur Bentley, Beckett Bould, John Boxer, Michael Corcoran, Arthur Cortez
- Directors:
- Basil Dearden
- Producers:
- Michael Balcon
- Writers:
- Jack Whittingham, John Eldridge
- Studio:
- Optimum
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- 1949: That Ealing Feeling, Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: Emma Thompson, inema Paradiso's 2023 Centenary Club: Part 2, People of the Pictures, Remembering Leslie Phillips, A Brief History of Film..., The Instant Expert's Guide, The Instant Expert's Guide to Basil Dearden
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 24/10/2016
- Run Time:
- 85 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Mono
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Full Screen 1.37:1
- Colour:
- B & W
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- Locations Featurette With Film Historian Richard Dacre
- New Interview With Earl Cameron
- Stills Gallery
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Reviews (1) of Pool of London
London Heist. - Pool of London review by Steve
This crime B feature is distinguished by the b&w footage shot in the historic Pool of London, which stretches east from Tower Bridge through the capital's (former) dockland. Now the film survives as a photographic document of a district which has mostly been swept away. Everything else feels secondary to the location.
This is social realism and it allows the director Basil Dearden to address contemporary issues, particularly the subject of race. And the film is significant as the debut of the leading black actor in British films over the next decade, Earl Cameron.
His will they/won't they flirtation with Susan Shaw is way ahead of anything in a fifties Hollywood film, and allows the character to reflect on his status as a social outsider. Cameron plays a sailor with two days shore leave. The film dwells on his friendship with a shipmate (Bonar Colleanno) who gets sucked into a diamond heist.
Which sets in motion a police investigation. The crime is really a subplot. The relationships matter more, but Dearden stages the heist and chase sequences with expertise and flair. It's a minor, low budget production with no stars, but an interesting curiosity which features many resonant performances in minor roles.
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