It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Robert Hamer

Writers:

Arthur La Bern (novel) and
Henry Cornelius (writer)

Release Date:

1948 (Austria)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

The secrets of a street you know

Plot:

An escaped convict tries to hide out at his former lover's house but she has since married and is far from keen on the idea.

Plot Keywords:

London | Sunday | Police | Community | Fugitive

Cast

Googie Withers	...	Rose Sandigate
Edward Chapman	...	George Sandigate
Susan Shaw	...	Vi Sandigate
Patricia Plunkett	...	Doris Sandigate
David Lines	...	Alfie Sandigate
Sydney Tafler	...	Morry Hyams
Betty Ann Davies	...	Sadie Hyams
John Slater	...	Lou Hyams, brother of Morrie
Jane Hylton	...	Bessie Hyams, sister of Morrie
Meier Tzelniker	...	Solly Hyams, father of Morrie
John McCallum	...	Tommy Swann
Jimmy Hanley	...	Whitey
John Carol	...	Freddie
Alfie Bass	...	Dicey Perkins
Jack Warner	...	Detective Sergeant Fothergill

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #12176) | Germany:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (2004)

Filming Locations:

Broadgate, London, England, UK

Company:

Ealing Studios

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: At the club, when Sadie (Morry's wife) sits down to talk to Doris, the spotlight shines on the wall behind them, and the shadow of the microphone is briefly visible.

Quotes:

[Morry has just told off Sadie for buying retail]
Morry Hyams: Where are you going?
Sadie Hyams: To get some fresh air. Don't worry, I'll get it wholesale.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Forever Ealing (2002) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Theme Without Words

British Postwar Film Noir

It Always Rains on Sunday (1947), co-written and directed by Robert Hamer, is a film noir movie set in London's working class East End. The film is dated in many ways--London, two years after the end of WW II, is not the London that we know in the 21st Century. We can still see evidence of bomb damage, rationing still applies, and there's a sense of community where everyone knows everyone else's business. Police and petty criminals engage in banter: Joe runs a lunch wagon where criminals tend to meet. A detective sergeant stops at the wagon for information. Joe: We don't cater to the criminal classes. Detective Sergeant Fothergill: Turned over a new leaf?

Several plot lines run through the film. An escaped convict--scarred after being flogged with a cat-o-nine-tails--turns up at the home of a woman he once loved, and who loved him. Rose Sandigate, played by the talented and beautiful Googie Withers, has since entered into a practical marriage with a man 15 years older than she is. We enter into her life, along with the lives of her two step-daughters, her son, three petty criminals trying to get rid of stolen roller skates, and some Jewish good guys, bad guys, and not-so-bad guys.

The production values aren't great, and the lower class accents sometimes call for subtitles. Nevertheless, the central plot element of an escaped convict, who returns to find that the woman he loves has married while he was in jail, is as compelling now as it was 60 years ago.

Finally, the powerful scene of detectives chasing a man through the train yards in the dark, was surely known to Carol Reed when he directed "The Third Man." Reed's scene, set in the sewers of Vienna, took place miles away from Hamer's London. Even so, in compelling action and suspense, they have a great deal in common.