Auf ihn mit Gebrüll (1947)

Auf ihn mit Gebrüll: Directed by Charles Crichton. With Harry Fowler, Frederick Piper, Vida Hope, Heather Delaine. A gang of street boys foil a master crook who sends commands for robberies by cunningly altering a comic strip’s wording each week, unknown to writer and printer. The first of the Ealing comedies.

“Eccentric boysu0026#39; adventure writer Felix H Wilkinson (Sim) has his copy – u0026quot;The Enthralling Adventures of Selwyn Pike and his Youthful Assistant Smileru0026quot; – altered by master crooks, using a special code through the pages of kidsu0026#39; comic u0026#39;Trumpu0026#39;. Only sharp-eyed schoolboy Joe Kirby (Fowler) seems to have noticed, but fails to convince a sceptical Detective Inspector Ford (Lambert).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eUndeterred, Kirby enlists the help of a gang of bombsite-dwelling little cockneys, the self-styled u0026#39;Blood and Thunder Boysu0026#39; to up-end the criminalsu0026#39; dastardly plans. Wilkinson is persuaded to alter his copy and catch the robbers, headed by Kirbyu0026#39;s boss Nightingale (Warner, cast against type as a baddie), and Trump secretary Rhona Watson (White).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOriginally billed with the slogan, u0026quot;The Ealing film that begs to differu0026quot;, Hue And Cry is less a comedy (actually, itu0026#39;s Ealing Studiosu0026#39; first acknowledged u0026#39;comedyu0026#39;) than a thrilling adventure story for older kids; the occasional punch-up scenes are peculiarly realistic. Director Crichton weaves a fantastic, but bizarrely believable yarn, helped no end by his unsentimental, dedicated cast.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe standout performer is Sim, whose potty writer, despite limited screen time, pretty much waltzes off with the entire picture – whether heu0026#39;s castigating the crooks (u0026quot;The insolent scoundrels, theyu0026#39;ve purloined one of my codes – the very code I invented for the u0026#39;Case of the Limping Skeleton!u0026#39;u0026quot;) or tremulously backing out of the deal (u0026quot;Remember what happened to Nicky the Narc in the u0026#39;Case of the Creeping Deathu0026#39;?u0026quot;).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAcclaimed cinematographer Dougie Slocombe makes great use of post-Blitz London locations, including Holborn Viaduct, Docklands, and Covent Garden – particularly for the climactic scenes of hundreds of boys teeming Battleship Potemkin-fashion down the capitalu0026#39;s steps toward the scene of the crime. While an almost incidental scene of a small boy re-enacting an aerial dogfight on a bombsite leaves viewers in no doubt about the psychological impact of the World War II on a new generation.”