The British New Wave came a decade earlier than advertised with Robert Hamer's downbeat postwar thriller. In a dank East End of ration-book misery, dosshouses and black marketeering, a world-weary housewife is shaken by the sudden reappearance of an old lover, now an escaped convict on the run. Restored by the BFI in 2012, Robert Hamer's solo directing debut is now recognised as one of the classics of British cinema's golden late-1940s.
Up Next in BFI Restorations
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Pressure
Hailed as Britain's first black feature film, Pressure is a hard-hitting, honest document of the plight of disenchanted British-born black youths. Set in 1970s London, it tells the story of Tony, a bright school-leaver, son of West Indian immigrants, who finds himself torn between his parents' ch...
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Silent Sherlock: Three Classic Cases
For decades, Sherlock Holmes fans worldwide have been waiting for the restoration of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series. Produced between 1921 and 1923, the collection is the last significant work in the Sherlock silent film canon to be restored. The hugely popular series, which ran for 45 ...
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Hotel Splendide
Powell’s amiable ‘Quickie’ comedy stars music hall veteran Jerry Verno as a lowly clerk who inherits a hotel, but gets more than he bargained for when various guests turn out to be crooks. (Watch out for the cameo from Powell himself). The production’s limitations are undeniable, but Powe...
