This fairly realistic and exciting
post-war British picture is a model example of its kind. It's
well-written, well-directed, (by Robert Hamer), and very well acted by a
cast of British stalwarts and in many ways it prefigures the
kitchen-sink movies of the late fifties and early sixties. John McCallum
is the escaped convict who hides out in the home of former girlfriend
Googie Withers who is now married to older Edward Chapman and is
stepmother to his problematic family, (in real-life McCallum and Withers
were married for 62 years).If its mix of location work and studio sets lets it down slightly it's nevertheless a very good picture of a tightly-knit East End community and was remarkably grown-up for its period. It also manages to keep several related plots on the boil at the same time without feeling over-egged. Maybe not quite the classic some people claim of it but outstanding all the same.
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