Rent Flame in the Streets (1961)
3.3 of 5 from 59 ratings
1h 30min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Jacko Palmer (John Mills), a liberal minded trade unionist, fights racial discrimination in a London furniture factory and averts a threatened strike over the promotion of a black West Indian Gabriel Gomez (Earl Cameron). However, Jacko has to face up to his own deeper prejudices when his daughter Kathie (Sylvia Syms) falls in love with a Jamaican teacher* The couple plan to marry and that creates chaos in the Palmer household where Kathie's mother Nell (Brenda De Banzie) turns from loving housewife and mother into an ugly racist* Meanwhile, the streets of London are simmering with racial tension as white working class youths confront the West Indian immigrants on what proves to be an explosive Guy Fawkes night. - Actors:
- John Mills, Sylvia Syms, Brenda De Banzie, Earl Cameron, Johnny Sekka, Ann Lynn, Wilfrid Brambell, Meredith Edwards, Newton Blick, Glyn Houston, Michael Wynne, Dan Jackson, Cyril Chamberlain, Gretchen Franklin, Harry Baird
- Directors:
- Roy Ward Baker
- Producers:
- Roy Ward Baker
- Writers:
- Ted Willis
- Studio:
- Strawberry
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama
- Collections:
- Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: John Mills
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Reviews (1) of Flame in the Streets
Tough Watch. - Flame in the Streets review by Steve
Horrific and disturbing reflection on racism in Britain after the Notting Hill race riots of 1958, adapted from Ted Willis' play of the same year. John Mills is a trade union leader who works for equality in the workplace, but who draws down into a deep well of prejudice when his daughter (Sylvia Syms) falls in love with a colleague from Jamaica (Johnny Sekka).
This is candid stuff which uses racist language which was never acceptable, but now is unsayable. The mother, outstandingly portrayed by Brenda De Banzie, is an utter monster and it is hard to accept that she would be accommodated in her family given her extreme bigotry. Which evokes the deep hatred still heard about immigrants today.
So, its themes have never gone away. But while the film exposes intolerance, it uncomfortably looks for balance, which includes trying to sympathetically understand the racism in British society. It could be argued that Willis' is just being mindful of the profound impasse that exists. But there is no editorial voice of reason, just the two lovers who are vulnerable and alone.
The unchecked fanaticism is hard to watch, yet the film is expertly made and impassioned, though provocative. It isn't greatly opened up from the play, but the locations and interiors create a strong impression of period. As a critique on intolerance, it is complex but too forgiving. As an insight into the normal prejudice of the period, it is shocking.
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