This post-WWII treat from top-tier Ealing Studio regulars director Charles Crichton & writer T.E.B. Clarke follows a devil-making (but basically harmless) gang of tenement teens who make their playground in the London ruins as severe rationing and shortages continue two years after the war. A perfect opportunity for Black Marketeers, especially if they can send secrets & commands about the latest arrivals of food stuffs & scarce consumer goods to their conspirators (truckers, deliverymen, office supply clerks & accountants) right under the noses of government enforcers. A system discovered by one of the boys when he notices weird similarities between his favorite comic book and local robberies, even non-existent license plate numbers copied directly out of his weekly edition. Stumbling thru false leads & misread clues, the gang eventually find the criminals, putting themselves in harms way with little backup since Master Harry Fowler, the young leader of the kids, has made himself something of a boy-who-cried-wolf character to the cops. Wonderfully shot on unique bombed-out London locations by Douglas Slocombe, with a few ‘names’ to play the adults (Alastair Sims as the unawares comic book writer; Jack Warner as a too friendly villain). Clarke doesn’t bother to make much sense of the conspiracy, but sticks to the kids’ feelings of adventure, camaraderie & empowerment, bringing the film in at a tidy 82".
DOUBLE-BILL: The template for this sort of thing is EMIL AND THE DETECTIVES, filmed in 1931; ‘35, ‘54; ‘64; ‘01; along with various tv iterations & series. None seen here; take your pick!
CONTEST: The opening credits, in chalk on brick walls, prefigure the famous credit sequence of what Academy Award-Winning movie? First correct answer (use the Comment Box) wins a MAKSQUIBS Write-Up of your choosing.
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