Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9323 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-11-13
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 78 minutes

Synopsis
Street boys throw rocks as the credits for HUE AND CRY appear behind them, among the grafitti on a brick wall. Director Charles Crichton's camera pans across London's Docklands. Joe (Harry Fowler), one of the street boys, reads from a Blood and Thunder comic. Enthralled, he finds he is walking down the streets mentioned in the comic, as the action from the comic appears to unfold before him--a truck with the same number plate stops, men unload large crates looking like those in the comic, a man with a moustache waits outside. With hardly a thought, Joe is spying. He is caught but, after being interviewed by the police, finds he has a job in Covent Garden, and a puzzle to solve. Joe's gang discovers the comic is being used to send coded messages to gangs of criminals. Nobody believes them--so they set out to investigate themselves. The memorable, climactic sequence sees a huge swarm of boys attempting to round up the baddies through the London's 1940s docklands.
With fine performances by Fowler, Joan Dowling as the gang's only girl, Alastair Sim as the timid author of the bloodthirsty stories, and Jack Warner as Joe's boss, with T.E.B. Clarke's cunning script and Crichton's direction, HUE AND CRY snowballs from realism to fantastic thriller as it plays out in London's bomb-stricken streets.

Customer Reviews

A Moment Caught
This is the beginning of what we have come to know as the Ealing comedy. A charming story of a group of children who believe their favourite comic is being used by crooks to send secret messages, they set out to foil the villains by planting false clues. All the children are excellent as are the adult cast especially Jack Warner and the marvellously larger than life Alastair Sim.
The real hero of this romp is London. Again and again,the postwar bomb-ravaged city provides stunning scenery and a great stage for the action. The children move through ruins without a thought for danger building dens that any child would envy. It is as though the filmmakers wanted to capture this London before it inevitably disappeared. It is part of the vanished innocence at the heart of the film.
One can watch this film again and again with pleasure.

'Hue and Cry' (1947) MR Alistair Sim and ealing comedies
Hue and Cry (1947) the first Ealing comedy with a cameo by A.S..is a delight made on location in the bomb sites of London, the city and covent garden
so historically fascinating.
like all movies with Alistair Sim it is 'exquisite' to watch..no other word than that for the delight in him and watching over and over again..
a dvd you must have in a collection of brilliant Ealing films.

At last Mr Sim is transferred to dvd..
'Green Man', 'An Inspector Calls' etc.... more please ?:-)

Boys Own Adventure
Harry Fowler portrays a young man searching for a job. A Boys' Adventure Comic lands at his feet and he becomes interested in the weekly story. His interest is further piqued when some of the details in the story match actual events. Could a real gang somehow be using the magazine to send a code to its members? Very soon he draws others into his belief and together these boys and girls set out to catch the criminals.

A very entertaining film set in post-war Britain, featuring fine performances from its cast both young and old. Whether you're a fan of Alastair Sim (portraying the author of the magazine story), or the Ealing films, or of good British films then this is one to add to your collection.