Wonderful character development!

Brilliant and touching

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is a well-made movie that satisfactorily and seamlessly combines a crime drama with some social commentary and characters that aren't just cardboard cutouts. The story takes place from a Friday to a Sunday in London. Dan (Bonar Colleano), a sailor on the Rotterdam to London route, engages in petty smuggling to get the money to impress the sort of girlfriend (Moira Lister) who's impressed by having money spent on her. On this trip he's going to make some real money (a hundred quid!) by smuggling out a package and deliver it unsealed in Rotterdam, no questions asked. A gang is going to use the skills of an aging acrobat (Max Adrian) and inside info from the acrobat's pensioned-off brother to commit a jewel robbery. The plan is to carry out the robbery on a Sunday, give the package to Dan who sails that afternoon. A bottle of milk upsets the masterplan and things start to go wrong all around. Not knowing this Dan, because he's known to Customs, plans to get his pal, the more straight-laced Johnny (Earl Cameron), to bring it aboard ship. Johnny is black. Over his weekend he encounters both racism and a naïve "nice girl" (Susan Shaw) who seems oblivious to the problems an inter-racial couple would experience in 1950's London. I've read that this was the first British film to have a black man-white woman love story. To tell more would be a spoiler particularly as you don't know how certain of the characters will react when things don't go as they wished. This isn't a masterpiece of world cinema but it doesn't pretend to be one. It is, as I say, a well-made piece. If imDb let you do fractions I'd give it seven and a half.

Like a malevolent gargoyle,third - rate variety artiste Max Adrian casts a basilisk glare over The City's bombsites as he climbs up the broken walls to break into a jeweller's office through the roof,a feat that needs all his acrobatic skills as it involves a prodigious leap from one building to another.Opening the door he admits his cohorts who blow the safe.Unfortunately they disturb the watchman and they murder him before making good their escape,thus making their crime a "Topping Job". Anybody involved in the offence is liable to be hanged,perhaps even fairly innocent Merchant Seaman Bonar Colleano whose readiness to earn a quick couple of quid pushes him into something much deeper when the proverbial "man in a pub" offers him £50 to smuggle a package on board his ship and drop it off in Amsterdam. Normally dealing in packs of cigarettes and Nylon stockings,Colleano is happy to step up into the big boys' world until it all goes wrong..... "Pool of London" brilliantly records the vibrant working - class culture of south east London as it recovers from the depredations of the second world war.The noisy,crowded,smoke - filled pubs,the rumbling trams,the seedy Music halls and all - night dives where punters are fleeced,the coffee stalls and fruit markets,badly - lit alleyways between the tall,dark buildings where only the sound of a tin can kicked by a lonely man spoils the silence. Similar in style to its stablemate "The Blue Lamp",it escapes being a "police procedural" by dint of powerful performances by Mr Colleano and Mr Earl Cameron as his Jamaican shipmate whose friendship is at the core of the movie. Miss Renee Asherson as a clerk at the Shipping Agency and Miss Susan Shaw as the cashier at the Variety Theatre also make a strong impact. Miss Moira Lister is a little de trop as a shrill goodtime girl whose accent swings wildly between Kennington and Kensington. But for me,the performance that characterises "Pool of London" 's case to be considered as one of the finest early post - war British movies is that of Mr Max Adrian as the sinister sunken - eyed broken down Music Hall acrobat who bizarrely performs his act in full evening dress including top hat.His smile as he acknowledges the smattering of applause from the sparse audience is one of desperation indeed.

American born Bonar Colleano carved out a more or less successful career in British films - even, improbably, starring opposite Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire on the London stage. Despite that prestigious credit he wasn't really leading man material and despite his top billing here it is more of an ensemble piece. Basil Dearden may well have had a bee about Race in his bonnet as he explored the subject again in Sapphire and utilised Earl Cameron - the token black man in this movie - yet again. If anything this is yet another reminder that Ealing did more than churn out comedies. Susan Shaw, who married Colleano, tried her hand at a 'good' girl for a change, having established herself as more or less the opposite in such films as It Always Rains On Sunday. Max Adrian is hopelessly miscast as an acrobat turned burglar and the best performance comes from Renee Asherson. Today its main interest is in its location shooting in a long-vanished London.

This is a much overlooked and underrated Ealing gem. It features fine performances by Bonar Colleano and Earl Cameron as his friend and ship-mate. Cameron's performance is an important and groundbreaking one for a black actor in a British movie. The location shots of post-war London are wonderful. I thoroughly commend this movie