''Street Corner'' is a 1953 British drama film. It was written by
Muriel and
Sydney Box
Frank Sydney Box (29 April 1907 – 25 May 1983) was a British film producer and screenwriter, and brother of British film producer Betty Box. In 1940, he founded the documentary film company Verity Films with Jay Lewis.
He produced and co-wro ...
and directed by Muriel. It was marketed as ''Both Sides of the Law'' in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. While not quite a documentary, the film depicts the daily routine of women in the police force from three different angles. It was conceived as a female version of the 1950 film ''
The Blue Lamp
''The Blue Lamp'' is a 1950 British police procedural film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Jack Warner as PC Dixon, Jimmy Hanley as newcomer PC Mitchell, and Dirk Bogarde as criminal Tom Riley. The title refers to the blue lamps that ...
''.
It was shot at
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London.
The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to te ...
and
on location around
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. The film's sets were designed by the
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
Cedric Dawe
Cedric Dawe (1906–1996) was a British art director. He worked on the set design of over sixty films during his career, spending many years working for ABPC at the company's Elstree and Welwyn Studios. He was praised for his realistic designs f ...
.
Plot
The three plotlines comprise a female army
deserter
Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...
guilty of
bigamy
In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...
, a toddler neglected and beaten by its
stepmother
A stepmother, stepmum or stepmom is a non-biological female parent married to one's preexisting parent.
A stepmother-in-law is a stepmother of one's spouse. Children from her spouse's previous unions are known as her stepchildren.
Culture
Ste ...
and an 18-year-old married mother who's caught
shoplifting
Shoplifting is the theft of goods from an open retail establishment, typically by concealing a store item on one's person, in pockets, under clothes or in a bag, and leaving the store without paying. With clothing, shoplifters may put on items ...
and gets involved with a jewel thief. The film climaxes in a
police dog attack on a criminal.
Cast
*
Peggy Cummins
Peggy Cummins (born Augusta Margaret Diane Fuller; 18 December 1925 – 29 December 2017) was an Irish actress, born in Wales, who is best known for her performance in Joseph H. Lewis's ''Gun Crazy'' (1950), playing a trigger-happy ''femme fa ...
as Bridget Foster
*
Terence Morgan
Terence Ivor Grant Morgan (8 December 1921 – 25 August 2005) was an English actor in theatre, cinema and television. He played many "villain" roles in British film but is probably best remembered for his starring role in the TV historical ...
as Ray
*
Anne Crawford
Imelda Anne Crawford (22 November 1920 – 17 October 1956) was a British film actress, born in Palestine of a Scottish father and an English mother, and brought up in Edinburgh.
Biography
A contemporary of Margaret Lockwood and Phyllis Calver ...
as Susan
*
Rosamund John
Rosamund John (19 October 1913 – 27 October 1998), born Nora Rosamund Jones, was an English film and stage actress.
Early life
She was born and brought up in Tottenham in North London, the daughter of Frederick Henry Jones, a wine merchant' ...
as Sergeant Pauline Ramsey
*
Barbara Murray
Barbara Ann Murray (27 September 1929 – 20 May 2014) was an English actress.
Murray was most active in the 1940s and 1950s as a fresh-faced leading lady in many British films such as ''Passport to Pimlico'' (1949) and ''Meet Mr. Lucifer'' (19 ...
as WPC Lucy
*
Sarah Lawson as Joyce
*
Ronald Howard as David Evans
*
Eleanor Summerfield
Eleanor Audrey Summerfield (7 March 1921 – 13 July 2001) was an English actress who appeared in many plays, films and television series. She is known for her roles in ''Laughter in Paradise'' (1951), ''Final Appointment'' (1954), ''Odongo'' (1 ...
as Edna Hurran
*
Michael Medwin
Michael Hugh Medwin, OBE (18 July 1923 – 26 February 2020) was an English actor and film producer.
Life and career
Medwin was born in London. He was educated at Canford School, Dorset, and the Institute Fischer, Montreux, Switzerland. He ...
as Chick Farrar
*
Charles Victor
Charles Victor (10 February 1896 – 23 December 1965) was a British actor who appeared in many film and television roles between 1931 and 1965. He was born Charles Victor Harvey.
Born in Southport, Lancashire, England, Victor was a fourth ...
as Muller
*
Anthony Oliver
Anthony Oliver (4 July 1922, Abersychan, near Pontypool, Monmouthshire, Wales—November 1995, London) was a Welsh film, television and stage actor.
Selected filmography
* ''Once a Jolly Swagman'' (1949) - Derek
* ''All Over the Town'' (1 ...
as Stanley Foster
*
Harold Lang
Harold Lang (December 21, 1920 – July 26, 1985) was an American dancer, singer and actor.
Life and career
Lang began his professional career as a ballet dancer, making his professional debut with the San Francisco Ballet in 1938 and then goi ...
as Len
*
Dora Bryan
Dora May Broadbent, (7 February 1923 – 23 July 2014), known as Dora Bryan, was a British actress of stage, film and television.[Eunice Gayson
Eunice Elizabeth Sargaison (17 March 1928 – 8 June 2018), known professionally as Eunice Gayson, was an English actress best known for playing Sylvia Trench, James Bond's love interest in the first two Bond films ('' Dr. No'' and '' From Russi ...]
as Janet
*
Michael Hordern
Sir Michael Murray Hordern CBE (3 October 19112 May 1995)Morley, Sheridan"Hordern, Michael Murray (1911–1995)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, May 2009, accessed 22 July 2015 was ...
as D.I. Heron
*
Maurice Denham
William Maurice Denham OBE (23 December 1909 – 24 July 2002) was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career.
Family
Denham was born on 23 December 1909 in Beckenham, Kent, the son ...
as Mr Dawson
* Yvonne Marsh as Elsa
* Isabel George as Helen
*
Nelly Arno
Nelly Aronowsky (15 July 1892 – September 1966), known professionally as Nelly Arno, was a German-born British theatre, film and radio actress.
Aronowsky was born in Karlsruhe to Abraham Aronowsky and Fanny (''née'' Maysel). She had a you ...
as woman customer
*
Dandy Nichols
Dandy Nichols (born Daisy Sander; 21 May 1907 – 6 February 1986) was an English actress best known for her role as Else Garnett, the long-suffering wife of the character Alf Garnett who was a parody of a working class Tory, in the BBC sit ...
as Mrs. Furness - Neighbour (uncredited)
Critical reception
''The Movie Review Warehouse'' said of Muriel Box's direction, "she doesn’t do anything terribly innovative with the camera but she does know how to tell a story effectively, which is often a rarer skill in the film world."
References
Bibliography
* Harper, Sue and Porter, Vincent. ''British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference''. Oxford University Press, 2007.
External links
*
1953 films
British black-and-white films
British crime drama films
Films directed by Muriel Box
1953 crime drama films
Films set in London
Films shot in London
British crime thriller films
Films produced by Sydney Box
Films with screenplays by Sydney Box
Films with screenplays by Muriel Box
Films shot at Pinewood Studios
1950s crime thriller films
Films shot at Station Road Studios, Elstree
1950s English-language films
1950s British films
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