Pool of London ***½ (1951, Earl Cameron, Bonar Colleano, Susan Shaw, Renée Asherson, Moira Lister, Max Adrian, Joan Dowling, James Robertson Justice) – Classic Movie Review 4399

Director Basil Dearden’s vintage 1951 British black and white crime thriller Pool of London stars Earl Cameron as Johnny Lambert, a basically honest Jamaican seaman who gets up to his ears in his thieving American buddy Dan MacDonald (Bonar Colleano)’s diamond smuggling racket and a murder case in London.

The Jamaican sailor also romances a white woman, Pat (Susan Shaw), against the backdrop of crime and racism in the bomb-site devastated City of London, making it the first British film to show a mixed-race romance.

Dearden’s film is a very capably made, quite involving crime drama from Ealing Studios, made in their then popular realist style (seen to even greater effect in the more famous classics Hue and Cry and The Blue Lamp). It also stars Susan Shaw, Renée Asherson, Moira Lister, Max Adrian, Joan Dowling and James Robertson Justice.

Unfortunately, there is nothing too unusual or particularly special about the crime yarn (original screenplay by Jack Whittingham and John Eldridge). However, the central role for a Jamaican character and the interracial relationship make it a pioneering movie. And director Dearden gets a lot of mileage out of the vivid London dockland backdrops, with Gordon Dines’s cinematography outstanding, as well as from his very interesting stalwart cast, who give rock solid performances.

Leslie Phillips plays Harry, a sailor.

Also in the cast are Michael Golden, John Longden, Alfie Bass, Leslie Phillips as Harry, a sailor, George Benson, Christopher Hewett, Laurence Naismith, Victor Maddern, Sam Kydd, Michael Ward, George Merritt, Ian Bannen, George Benson, Arthur Bentley, Michael Corcoran, Rowena Gregory, Fred Griffiths, Jack May, Arthur Mullard, Eric Thompson, Mavis Villiers, John Warwick, Russell Waters and Beckett Bould.

It is restored in 2016 for a DVD release.

Trailblazing actor Earl Cameron turned 100 in 2017. He died on 3 July 2020 at his home in Kenilworth, England, aged 102.

Pool of London is directed by Basil Dearden, runs 85 minutes, is made by Ealing Studios, is released by General Film Distributors, is written by Jack Whittingham and John Eldridge, is shot in black and white by Gordon Dines, is produced by Michael Balcon and Michael Relph (associate producer), is scored by John Addison and is designed by Jim Morahan.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4399

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