It Always Rains on Sunday

The central story is fun and tense with some great moments. The film adds to this by throwing in a bunch of tangential stories which are still enjoyable, but there are a few too many. Eventually the film begins to feel bloated and I began to lose focus and interest. Most of the characterizations are a bit too thin and as a result some of these side stories feel too inconsequential for the time they're given. Still, it's a great looking film and enough of it is interesting to make it worthwhile.

80.50

Fun little noir that seems to hold more than one Sunday's worth of stories (and some scattered downpours). The main thread is a pretty classic thriller storyline; it's padded by a soap opera cast of side tales that are interesting but tend to distract. It mostly finishes with a good railyard chase (which is where it should have ended, with so many other threads left dangling). It's a little different from the usual (and often predictable) noir fare.

Familiar story told fairly well. Nicely lit but often static.

Quite good.

This pretty remarkable film feels like the bridge between the French poetic realism of the 1930's and the British kitchen sink dramas of the following decade. The prison break/crime plot is the main focus, but the film also follows a host of side characters through their lives on the Sunday, painting a portrait of life in post war East End of London. It's beautifully acted by an ensemble cast and stylishly directed by Robert Hamer, just a year before he would direct "Kind Hearts and Coronets".

The final sequence in the trainyard is pure noir and is a great finish, but getting there is a slight chore. It's not bad, but the noir story is accompanies by a far less interesting romantic subplot (along with other subplots) that take up most of the movie. It kept taking me out of the noir plot, though the noir plot is not exactly setting the world on fire, either. Most if it is kind of very average, but it's probably worth watching if only for that climactic scene, which is quite masterful.

This is a slow build, to be sure. A deeply cynical portrait of post-war England where everyone--even the children--is out to get for themselves. I felt the performances of the two leads were not very convincing, which kept taking me out of the moment. But the film ends on a high note with the chase, with lots of atmospheric shots, none better than a series of them at the train yard.

Might not be THE example of British crime films being onto something in 1947, but it's A example of it worth seeking-out.