Hue and Cry

Hue and Cry

21/4/2020 1h 22m 6.4/10

Overview

A gang of street boys foil a master crook who sends commands for robberies by cunningly altering a comic strip's wording each week, unknown to writer and printer. The first of the Ealing comedies.

Director

Charles Crichton

Top Billed Cast

Alastair Sim

Alastair Sim

Felix H. Wilkinson

Jack Warner

Jack Warner

Nightingale

Harry Fowler

Harry Fowler

Joe Kirby

Valerie White

Valerie White

Rhona

Jack Lambert

Jack Lambert

Ford

Douglas Barr

Alec

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

11/10/2022

7/10

This is one of the lesser known Ealing comedies and it has something of the Children's Film Foundation output to it too, as the youngsters cotton on to a dastardly plan to use the narrative bubbles in a children's comic to convey messages that unwittingly to the publisher and animator facilitate daring robberies. It's only when the young "Joe" (Harry Fowler) and his mates start to put two and two together, and with the help of "Felix" (Alastair Sim) they start to hone in on the kingpin - safe in the knowledge that he is close amongst them and will not go quietly if he is discovered. The humour is dark, subtle and personable, as are the efforts from Jack Warner ("Nightingale") and it is set in a wonderfully gritty post war, bombed-out London full of craters and ruins in which to set the increasingly enjoyable scenario. The youngsters gel well together too, a team effort with the odd red herring and plenty of fisticuffs that compensate for the nor terribly high production standards (especially the tinny audio). Remembering the environment in which it was made, it's a remarkably enjoyable and light-hearted indication that war was over and that the sunlit uplands were again on the horizon. Good fun.

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