Pool of London – 1951 | 85mins | Drama, Crime | B&W

Plot Synopsis

Pool of London has the familiar semi-documentary approach to what is intended to he a slice-of-life story based around the docks, and was jointly written by Jack Whittingharn and a documentary director, John Eldridge. The formula is that of The Blue Lamp, the use of real locations serving, it was hoped, to authenticate the action. The film is based upon the crew of a merchant crew who come ashore for a weekend in South London. There are three main elements: first, the life of the river, its workings presented in the revelatory style of the documentary, with insights into the routines of customs men and river police; second, a dramatic plot line involving robbery and murder, courage and betrayal; third, social responsibility with an attempt to grapple with the problems of a coloured man and a white girl, probably for the first time in a British film.

The blend is sometimes uneasy, and there is a marked sense of diffidence where the romance with no future is concerned, creating an awkward hiatus in the flow of the narrative. But for all that, Pool of London is a workmanlike, well-crafted and sincere picture in Basil Dearden‘s customary pacey manner, with many excellent set-piece action sequences. Pool of London ran into censorship troubles in the U.S. because of its depiction of a romance between Cameron, a black actor, and Susan Shaw, a white actress. The script was originally started by T.E.B. Clarke until he was switched to working on The Lavender Hill Mob, the film is also one of the last to show tram-rides in London.

Extract© George Perry: Forever Ealing.