The Blue Lamp
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| The Blue Lamp | |
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| Directed by | Basil Dearden |
| Written by | T.E.B. Clarke |
| Starring | Jack Warner Jimmy Hanley Dirk Bogarde Robert Flemyng |
| Distributed by | Ealing Studios |
| Release date(s) | UK 17 January 1950 (London) USA 1 June 1950 Australia 24 November 1950 |
| Running time | 84 min |
| Country | UK |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Blue Lamp is a British crime film released in early 1950 by Ealing Studios directed by Basil Dearden and produced by Michael Balcon. It stars Jack Warner as policeman George Dixon, Jimmy Hanley, and Dirk Bogarde in an early and defining role. It was the progenitor of the long-running television series Dixon of Dock Green.
The title refers to the blue lamp that traditionally hung outside British police stations (and often still do). George Dixon is named after producer Michael Balcon's former school in Birmingham.
The screenplay was written by ex-policeman Thomas Ernest Bennett Clarke. The film is an early example of the "social realism" films that would emerge later in the 1950s, but it follows a simple moral structure in which the police are the honest guardians of a decent society, battling the disorganised crime of a few unruly youths.
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[edit] Plot
The action takes place in the area of London known as Paddington Green, and is set just a few years after the end of World War II. Police Constable George Dixon (Warner) a long-serving traditional "copper" who is due to retire shortly, takes a new recruit, Andy Mitchell (Hanley), under his aegis, introducing him to the easy-going night beat. Dixon is a classic Ealing 'ordinary' hero, but also anachronistic, unprepared and unable to answer the violence of Tom Riley (Bogarde). Called to the scene of a robbery at a theatre, Dixon finds himself face-to-face with Riley, a desperate youth armed with a revolver. Dixon initially tries to talk Riley into surrendering the weapon, but Riley panics and fires. Dixon walks to his own death almost uncomprehending.
Dixon is taken to hospital, but dies some hours later. The ending is another Ealing quirk, with ordinary decent society, including 'professional' criminals used to violence, banding together to track down and catch the murderer, who is trapped in the crowd at a greyhound track. To Andy Mitchell falls the honor of arresting Riley.
[edit] Production
The producers obtained full co-operation from the Metropolitan Police and were therefore able to use the real-life former Paddington Green Police Station and New Scotland Yard for location work. Most of the other locations were in inner West London, principally the Harrow Road precincts between Paddington (W.2 and W.9) and Westbourne Park.
The original Blue Lamp was transferred to the new Paddington Green Police Station. It is still outside the front of the station and has been recently been restored. Most of the other locations are unrecognisable now due to redevelopment in the 1960s, especially of the Westway flyover and the Warwick Estate for which many streets were demolished.
The Metropolitan Theatre of Varieties, featured prominently, was demolished because it was thought likely that the Marylebone flyover would need the site, although that turned out not to be the case. It is now the site of Paddington Green Police Station. A robbery on a jeweller's shop used the nearby branch of national chain F. Hinds. This was also knocked down when the flyover was built.
The scenes of the theatre robbery were filmed at the Coliseum Cinema on the Harrow Road, next to the Grand Union Canal bridge. The cinema was probably built in 1922, was closed in 1956 and later demolished[1].
White City Greyhound Track was the former 1908 Olympic Stadium and is now the site of the BBC White City building.
[edit] Cast
- Jack Warner as PC George Dixon
- Jimmy Hanley as PC Andy Mitchell
- Dirk Bogarde as Tom Riley
- Robert Flemyng as Sgt. Roberts
- Bernard Lee as Insp. Cherry
- Peggy Evans as Diana Lewis
- Patric Doonan as Spud
- Bruce Seton as PC Campbell
- Meredith Edwards as PC Hughes
- Clive Morton as Sgt. Brooks
- Frederick Piper as Alf Lewis
- Dora Bryan as Maisie
- Gladys Henson as Mrs. Dixon
- Tessie O'Shea as herself
[edit] Reception
[edit] Awards
The film won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.
[edit] Legacy
Several of the characters and actors were carried over into the TV series Dixon of Dock Green, including the resurrected Dixon, still played by Warner. The series ran on BBC Television for twenty-one years from 1955 to 1976, with Warner being over eighty by the time of its conclusion.
In 1988, Arthur Ellis's satirical BBC Two play The Black and Blue Lamp had the film characters of Riley (Sean Chapman) PC "Taffy" Hughes (Karl Johnson)) transported forwards in time into an episode of The Filth, a gritty contemporary police television series, replacing their modern day counterparts.[1]
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
[edit] Bibliography
- The Great British Films, pp 140-141, Jerry Vermilye, 1978, Citadel Press, ISBN 080650661X
[edit] External links
| Preceded by The Third Man |
BAFTA Award for Best British Film 1951 |
Succeeded by The Lavender Hill Mob |
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