In this classic Ealing Studios cops-and-robbers drama from 1950, postwar London is in the grip of a new war: according to Basil Dearden’s The Blue Lamp, the Blitzed streets of Blighty’s capital city are now overrun with the violent delinquent children of broken homes who all pack heat, steal and plunder for kicks, and don’t think twice about assaulting or even shooting a copper.
Of course, because this is a Dearden-directed flick, there will be some heavy social realism and moral ambiguity attached to the events in the film. In almost thesis-like fashion, Dearden’s film offers up its social theories on proper British law enforcement: there need to be more of the Old Bill walking local beats in every urban neighborhood, getting up close and personal with the public.
At the same time, the film doesn’t shy away from subtle depictions of public skepticism about these policing tactics and the motives behind them. Although portrayed in idealistic fashion as saintly peacekeepers, these London bobbies are ballistically outmatched by these new young criminal gangs armed to the teeth with the plentiful postwar supply of small arms still circulating in the city.
The focus here squares off on a conflict between two partnerships on different sides of the law: rookie officer Andy Mitchell (Jimmy Haney) is paired with veteran George Dixon (Jack Warner), who eventually come face to face with young criminal rogues Tom Riley (Dirk Bogarde) and Spud (Patric Doonan) after they try and knock over a local jewelry store.
(Bogarde, in this early role, seems out of his depth as the tough-talking street thug, especially in light of his professional transformation years later into the most distinguished of British thespians onscreen in classics like Victim and The Servant a decade later).
But when Riley puts a couple of slugs in George outside a cinema, the stakes are raised considerably—now Riley and Spud are wanted for murder. Andy and his colleagues must track down the two homicidal delinquents, first by a slick pre-Bullitt car chase and then by a carefully executed sting operation at a local dog track.
Along the way, Dearden’s The Blue Lamp features stellar black-and-white location shooting of West London’s Little Venice and Paddington Green area by crack cinematographer Gordon Dines. The Blue Lamp would go on to become a touchstone cop drama and inspire the wildly popular British TV series Dixon of Dock Green.