Flame in the Streets **** (1961, John Mills, Sylvia Syms, Brenda de Banzie, Johnny Sekka, Earl Cameron, Meredith Edwards) – Classic Movie Review 9148

The 1961 British drama film Flame in the Streets stars John Mills as a large company’s union organiser who struggles when his only daughter (Sylvia Syms) announces that she plans to wed her Jamaican boyfriend (Johnny Sekka). 

Director Roy Ward Baker’s 1961 British drama Flame in the Streets stars John Mills as a large company’s union organiser Jacko Palmer, normally a left-wing-thinker who lectures his members about tolerance of a West Indian foreman and fights for equal rights for the handful of West Indian workers at the company, but he struggles when his only daughter Kathie Palmer (Sylvia Syms) announces that she plans to wed a West Indian guy from Jamaica, and his wife hits the roof.

Flame in the Streets is a fascinating social document from 60 years ago, written by Ted Willis, based on his TV play Hot Summer Night, shown in 1959 as part of ITV’s long-running Armchair Theatre series. Willis moved the action from the ‘hot summer night’ of his play to Guy Fawkes Night, added two characters, Gabriel Gomez (Earl Cameron) and Harry Mitchell (Meredith Edwards), only referred to in the play, and added a nocturnal street brawl at the end.

It is perhaps now more interesting sociologically than as drama, though it still has the power to entertain, inform and move. The performances are strong, and Mills, Syms and Brenda de Banzie as Jacko’s wife Nell Palmer give stalwart portrayals. Senegalese actor Johnny Sekka makes a striking debut as Kathie Palmer’s Jamaican boyfriend, Peter Lincoln.

Flame in the Streets is produced at Pinewood Studios by the Rank Organisation. With the action on Guy Fawkes Night, filming began appropriately on 5 November 1960.

Also in the cast are Wilfrid Brambell as Mr Palmer Senior, Earl Cameron as Gabriel Gomez, Johnny Sekka as Peter Lincoln, Ann Lynn, Meredith Edwards, Newton Blick, Glyn Houston, Cyril Chamberlain, Michael Wynne, Dan Jackson, Harry Baird, Jeremy Lloyd, Monte Landis, Max Butterfield, David Bailie, Irvin Allen and Gretchen Franklin. Barbara Windsor appears uncredited as Girlfriend.

Flame in the Streets is directed by Roy Ward Baker, runs 95 minutes, is made by The Rank Organisation and Somerset Films, is released by J Arthur Rank Film Distributors (1961) (UK) and Atlantic Pictures (1962) (US, is written by Ted Willis, is shot in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope by Christopher Challis, is produced by Earl St John (executive producer), Roy Ward Baker (producer) and Jack Hanbury (associate producer), and is scored by Philip Green, with Art Direction by Alex Vetchinsky.

It opened at the Odeon Leicester Square, London, on 22 June 1961. It was released on 12 September 1962 in the US in black and white.

It is the fourth and last of The Rank Organisation’s movies in CinemaScope.

Wilfrid Brambell, playing Mr Palmer Senior, was four years younger than John Mills, playing his son Jacko Palmer.

Mills and de Banzie also appeared together in Hobson’s Choice (1954).

Mills and Syms also appeared together in Ice Cold in Alex (1958).

Roy Ward Baker recalled in his 2000 autobiography that the film had recently been shown at a Brixton cinema ‘to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival in Britain of the steamer Windrush, bringing Caribbeans to work here. Some of the older ones [in the audience] testified that it was a true picture of the conditions the incomers faced and in some areas still do face.’

Caribbean actor Earl Cameron persuaded Johnny Sekka (born Lamine Sekka on 21 July 1934) to become an actor, and he attended RADA. Frustrated that he not become a star like UK actors who started out around the same time, he moved to the US to get better roles. He died of lung cancer at his ranch in Agua Dulce, California, on 14 September 2006, aged 72.

It followed the ground-breaking 1959 Sapphire.

The April 17, 2019 John Mills – The Centenary Collection Icon Box Set DVD features eight films starring the iconic British actor. The titles are In Which We Serve, We Dive at Dawn, Waterloo Road, Great Expectations, The October Man, The History of Mr Polly, Morning Departure and Flame in the Streets.

Bermudian actor Earl Cameron (8 August 1917 – 3 July 2020), who lived and worked in the UK, became one of the first black stars in the British film industry. His film appearances continued until 2013 when he was 96. He died at his home in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England, at the age of 102, surrounded by his wife and family.

The cast are John Mills as Jacko Palmer, Sylvia Syms as Kathie Palmer, Brenda De Banzie as Nell Palmer, Earl Cameron as Gabriel Gomez, Johnny Sekka as Peter Lincoln, Ann Lynn as Judy Gomez, Wilfrid Brambell as Mr Palmer Senior, Meredith Edwards as Harry Mitchell, Newton Blick as Visser, Glyn Houston as Hugh Davies, Michael Wynne as Les, Dan Jackson as Jubilee, Cyril Chamberlain as Dowell, Gretchen Franklin as Mrs Bingham, Harry Baird as Billy, Jeremy Lloyd, Monte Landis, Max Butterfield, David Bailie, Irvin Allen and Barbara Windsor as Girlfriend.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9148

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