- Actors: Jack Warner, Dirk Bogarde, Jimmy Hanley, Robert Flemyng, Bernard Lee
- Directors: Basil Dearden
- Writers: Alexander Mackendrick, Jan Read, T.E.B. Clarke, Ted Willis
- Producers: Michael Balcon, Michael Relph
- Language English
- Classification: PG
- Studio: Warner
- VHS Release Date: 3 July 2000
- Run Time: 84 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004CIBY
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,582 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Fifty years on, it's hard to appreciate just how shocking one key scene in The Blue Lamp was considered by British audiences. Young delinquent Tom Riley (played with sensuous malevolence by Dirk Bogarde) guns down kindly, benevolent copper, PC Dixon (Jack Warner.) In early 1950s Britain, murdering a policeman was the ultimate taboo. Even the underworld's denizens help the police flush Riley out. Made by Ealing Studios, The Blue Lamp is not a comedy but shares many of the studio's characteristic comic hallmarks, as well as the same writer (TEB Clarke) for their classics Hue And Cry and The Lavender Hill Mob. Consensus and tolerance are the watchwords. Individualism is frowned upon. There are no extravagant displays of emotion, not even from Mrs Dixon (Gladys Henson) when she learns what happened to her husband. The understatement is very moving, although by today's standards the representation of the police seems absurdly idealised. Were they ever the doughty, patient sorts depicted here? It is no surprise to learn that Scotland Yard co-operated in the making of the film but this is much more than just police propaganda. Well-crafted, full of finely judged character performances, it ranks with Ealing's best work. It was made at an intriguing historical moment: before rock and roll and the era of teenage affluence, there was simply no place for young tearaways like Tom Riley. --Geoffrey Macnab
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This was the movie that changed British gangster films for ever,
Originally written by (Lord) Ted Willis, it introduced us to PC George Dixon, part social worker, part father confessor and part copper.
Dirk Bogarde plays a troubled teenager with a gun (even though when the film was made, Bogarde was already a a decorated war hero!) who kills PC Dixon in an alley.
Jack Warner's character was brought back to life to star in the BBC's long running series "Dixon of Dock Green" which ran from 1955 until 1976.
It's a great movie, a real slice of 1950's post-war Britain.
Buy and enjoy.
Originally written by (Lord) Ted Willis, it introduced us to PC George Dixon, part social worker, part father confessor and part copper.
Dirk Bogarde plays a troubled teenager with a gun (even though when the film was made, Bogarde was already a a decorated war hero!) who kills PC Dixon in an alley.
Jack Warner's character was brought back to life to star in the BBC's long running series "Dixon of Dock Green" which ran from 1955 until 1976.
It's a great movie, a real slice of 1950's post-war Britain.
Buy and enjoy.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I genuinely believe this to be one of the great British films and I can watch it again and again and never become bored of it. So many memorable images; PC Dixon's fate; the child finding the gun; Dirk Bogarde's chilling performance; the nature of the crime sickening even the most hardened of criminals; and much, much more.
This is truly a window into a lost world - some of the photography of 1950s London is astounding - and I'm sure many modern viewers might find it all a bit silly - this is, after all from an era when accents were either cut glass or "Gor, Blimey Guv'nor" vulgar - but you'd have to have a heart of stone not to be deeply moved by the scene with George Dixon's wife after the shooting.
It also comes from a time before the idea of the "honest copper" was tarnished forever, and when there really were "bobbies on the beat" - a time when many villains could be portrayed as "lovable rogues" but, if you bear in mind that you are watching a slice of lost history - in a very effective semi-documentary style - you will find a lot to enjoy in this film, and the basic sense of justice and ideals of right and wrong as showcased in this film still make very powerful viewing.
This is truly a window into a lost world - some of the photography of 1950s London is astounding - and I'm sure many modern viewers might find it all a bit silly - this is, after all from an era when accents were either cut glass or "Gor, Blimey Guv'nor" vulgar - but you'd have to have a heart of stone not to be deeply moved by the scene with George Dixon's wife after the shooting.
It also comes from a time before the idea of the "honest copper" was tarnished forever, and when there really were "bobbies on the beat" - a time when many villains could be portrayed as "lovable rogues" but, if you bear in mind that you are watching a slice of lost history - in a very effective semi-documentary style - you will find a lot to enjoy in this film, and the basic sense of justice and ideals of right and wrong as showcased in this film still make very powerful viewing.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This film was the acorn from which sprang the oak of Dixon of Dock Green, the longrunning TV series featuring Sergeant Dixon, amiably wise local uniformed policeman, who always started and ended each episode with a homespun homily. My grandmother never missed.
In the film, Dirk Bogarde's young gangster shoots dead the then Police Constable Dixon and is pursued relentlessly but with almost amusing gentility by the Metropolitan Police, who, naturally, capture him in the end.
The film is skilfully made and the raffish atmosphere of postwar London brilliantly shown. Ground and aerial shots of the main areas used (Little Venice, Maida Vale, Paddington, North Kensington) are of interest not only to the film buff but to social and architectural historians. As an ex-Little Venice resident myself, I was once more amazed to see how much has changed (sometimes for better, sometimes not) in the Regent's Canal area and elsewhere and how much of the redevelopment has been the work of planners and local councils, rather than the Luftwaffe, who (outside the docks and nearby areas of the City and East London) really damaged London, overall, scarcely at all during WW2. Another interesting point is the paucity of traffic in those poor and petrol-rationed days. Dirk Bogarde is able to drive at speed down deserted streets, pursued by the squad and area cars of the police. The main car chase is, in today's terms, "iconic" and, with its near massacre of a school party on a pedestrian crossing, surely must have inspired the almost identical scene in the watchable Sixties film Robbery (based loosely on the Great Train Robbers).
The final scenes before Bogarde's capture, in the crowded yet lonely confines of a dog-racing track (White City, I think) are classic, capturing the clammy despair of a criminal like that in those days when a crime like his would lead inevitably to the hangman's rope. A British classic.
In the film, Dirk Bogarde's young gangster shoots dead the then Police Constable Dixon and is pursued relentlessly but with almost amusing gentility by the Metropolitan Police, who, naturally, capture him in the end.
The film is skilfully made and the raffish atmosphere of postwar London brilliantly shown. Ground and aerial shots of the main areas used (Little Venice, Maida Vale, Paddington, North Kensington) are of interest not only to the film buff but to social and architectural historians. As an ex-Little Venice resident myself, I was once more amazed to see how much has changed (sometimes for better, sometimes not) in the Regent's Canal area and elsewhere and how much of the redevelopment has been the work of planners and local councils, rather than the Luftwaffe, who (outside the docks and nearby areas of the City and East London) really damaged London, overall, scarcely at all during WW2. Another interesting point is the paucity of traffic in those poor and petrol-rationed days. Dirk Bogarde is able to drive at speed down deserted streets, pursued by the squad and area cars of the police. The main car chase is, in today's terms, "iconic" and, with its near massacre of a school party on a pedestrian crossing, surely must have inspired the almost identical scene in the watchable Sixties film Robbery (based loosely on the Great Train Robbers).
The final scenes before Bogarde's capture, in the crowded yet lonely confines of a dog-racing track (White City, I think) are classic, capturing the clammy despair of a criminal like that in those days when a crime like his would lead inevitably to the hangman's rope. A British classic.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
One of the best films of all time
Being of an age where I grew up with a diet of Saturday evening Dixon of Dock Green, the Blue Lamp, which was its pilot film has always been a firm favourite of mine. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mrs J. L. Phillips
Olden day film
I got this DVD as I used to like watching Dixon of Dock Green. I enjoyed this film but it is a very old film which not everyone would like. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Panda
Dixon before Dock Green
Good drama usually stems from pitting the good guys against the bad guys. This film is no exception: old-fashioned police constable Jack Warner (George Dixon) walking the beat,... Read more
Published 13 months ago by robert51912
The Blue Lamp.
Totally trouble free transaction, supplying a classic 1949 Ealing film, which was the forerunner to the long lasting Dixon of Dock Green televison series.
Published 20 months ago by Mr. J. Barratt
The Blue Lamp DVD.
Recommended and a taste of Britain, well London, in the late 40's. Somewhat dated in places and attitude but that's what makes this film a period piece.
Published 21 months ago by Mr. Mark N. Pearson
A classic
Bought this DVD as a present for my mother, she enjoyed it as she is of that generation.
Published 21 months ago by peppermint
Period piece with a few merits
Looking at Ealing Studios' "The Blue Lamp" (1949) now, it's very hard to see why it caused so much fuss at the time - so much, that kindly PC George Dixon (Jack Warner), killed... Read more
Published on 6 Jan 2010 by Peter Scott-presland
Brilliant Movie!!
This is a must buy for anyone interested in the Ealing film factory. Best known for the "Ealing Comedies" they also made other classic drama films. Read more
Published on 28 Oct 2009 by S. Maidwell
the blue lamp
as an avid fan of dixon of dock green this d v d is a must for all fans
the d v d is of good quality and worth seeing over and over
top marks
the d v d is of good quality and worth seeing over and over
top marks
Published on 19 Sep 2009 by mccloud
the blue lamp
A truly great film of its time, all the scenes are as i recall paddington and W 11 at the time just after W W 2.
Published on 28 Jun 2009 by WATAWALLY
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