Dreadfully Boring

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Here are seven reasons why "Sidewalks of London" (1938) is an excellent film: (1) great acting by the legendary film stars Vivien Leigh, Charles Laughton and Rex Harrison (2) good story contrasting the street buskers with theatre stars (3) location filming of London's theatre district (4) interesting portrayal of buskers (5) beautiful black and white cinematography (6) historical importance (7) excellent music score. The story involves themes of love, social class and ambition. Vivien Leigh is charming as a busker. The movie was filmed on location at St. Martin's Lane, Shaftesbury Avenue, Cambridge Circus and Piccadilly Circus. ('Circus' refers to a round space at a street intersection.)"Sidewalks of London" (aka "St. Martin's Lane") shows the interesting subculture of the buskers, who are singers, musicians and dancers that perform on the streets. The actual busker group "The Luna Boys" are in some scenes. The film begins with a night scene of the theatre district. Neon signs glitter in the darkness. A pretty female busker sings "London Love Song" on the street. Charles Staggers (Charles Laughton) is a poetry-reciting busker who sees Liberty (Vivien Leigh) stealing a gold cigarette case. Liberty was raised in an orphanage, and now survives as a pickpocket. Charles follows Liberty to a vacant house. In a beautiful scene, Liberty dances in the moonlight shining on the floor, to the music "Vivien's Waltz." Charles sees Liberty dancing and recognizes her talent.Charles lives in a garret under the roof of a rundown Victorian apartment, and Liberty moves into one of the rooms. There are some nice scenes of the everyday life of the buskers. A cute black-and-white stray cat appears at the window of Charles' garret, which Charles takes in. Charles mends his clothes on his sewing machine. Liberty, who is 19 years old, bakes Charles a birthday cake, and gives him a party for his 40th birthday.Charles, Liberty and some busker friends create a performance troupe. They sing, dance and play the harmonica in front of the Holborn Empire Theatre. Liberty is charming, dancing in her vaudeville costume of top hat, vest, and striped trousers.Harley Prentiss (Rex Harrison), a successful song writer, sees Liberty dancing and notices her ambition. He becomes her career mentor and her lover.Liberty's career flourishes, and she gets the lead in an extravagant 1930s musical, titled "Straw Hat in the Rain." There are many backstage scenes of rehearsals. Liberty becomes a famous musical star, surrounded by fans requesting autographs.One theme in the film is love. Charles is in love with Liberty, but his feelings are unrequited. Liberty has sentimental feelings of friendship toward Charles. In a poignant scene, Liberty arranges a theatre audition for Charles, but he realizes that he belongs with the lively,free-spirited buskers.Another theme is social class. The wealthy theatre stars and patrons contrast with the street buskers. Charles' small garret contrasts with Harley Prentiss' posh Art Deco penthouse. His Art Deco apartment has mirrored walls, white furniture, glass block windows, and a magnificent view of the city. Liberty and Charles now live in different worlds. Liberty lives in the glittering inside world of the theatre, and Charles lives in the outside world of the street buskers. The ending is bittersweet.The performances of Leigh, Laughton and Harrison are superb. Liberty is ambitious and temperamental, yet also charming and sentimental. Charles is a boyish, boisterous man with a lot of heart. Harrison is excellent as the suave and sophisticated theatre insider.The black and white cinematography is excellent. A sweeping camera shot shows the impressive London cityscape with St. Paul's Cathedral, immediately followed by a camera shot of the crooked chimney pipes on Charles' roof.The night scenes are beautifully filmed, with high contrast between light and dark. Liberty's luminous face contrasts with the dark night background. The theatre lights glitter in the evening.Vivien Leigh is always beautiful in her 1930s fashions. As a pickpocket, she wears a black beret, a man's tie, and a narrow skirt. After she becomes a star, she wears a beautiful white gown with a black hat and long black gloves.This is a historically important film, because it shows the theatre district in 1938, before it was severely damaged in 1940-41, during World War II. The Holborn Empire Theatre, shown in the film, was destroyed in the Blitz. (See my posting on the message board for more on this topic.)"Sidewalks of London" (1938) deserves a DVD with high quality digital remastering, and extras about London's theatre district, the buskers, and the great actors in the film. Highly recommended.

The film begins with Charles Laughton playing a busker (a street entertainer). During his spiel to try to encourage donations from the crowd, a horrid street urchin (Vivian Leigh) rushes up and snatches his money. Later, he catches up with her and once again she behaves VERY badly--stealing something from a rich guy (Rex Harrison). Laughton sees this and once again pursues her in order to get the man's stuff in order to return it. But, once again, she screams and behaves horribly--which causes the police to chase them. With this VERY inauspicious introduction, Leigh and Laughton soon would become friends as well as business partners. So, soon she has joined with Laughton and his friends and their new act goes over well--and their finances improve. A bit later, Leigh is recognized for her talents by Rex Harrison--who happens to be a a big-wig in the theatre circuit. He gives her a break and she hits the big-time. However, she STILL is the same selfish brat she was when the movie began and she badly mistreats poor Laughton. She does nothing to thank him, credit him for some of her ideas or does a thing to help him. In addition, when he proposes to him she rebuffs him and laughs at him! Nice lady, huh? You could see from this performance that she would make a dandy Scarlet O'Hara. However, in a twist near the end, she uncharacteristically shows a tender side towards her old mentor and friend--but it just didn't work for me, as that was NOT the sort of character she'd been playing throughout the film. This reminded me of the uncharacteristic and ridiculous change Bette Davis' character underwent at the end of "Jezebel". In both cases, it took a truly exceptional movie and knocked its impact down a peg or two.Without the unnecessary and unbelievable transformation, I'd have given this movie an 8 or 9. As it is, I think a 7 is fair. Worth watching but a poor ending. Early in the film, you'll see a minstrel at the coffee shop--my how times have changed!

I'm forced by conscience to admit right off that I've been a complete sap for Vivien Leigh since the moment I laid eyes on her sitting between the "Tarlton Twins" on the steps at Twelve Oaks in the opening seconds of GWTW. But in decades of looking to find that =particular= Vivien Leigh again, I was everlastingly frustrated.I found over time that I had fallen for the Vivien the Vixen, the face that could send men happily off to (civil) war in delirious dreams of marching home to her and "happily ever after" ...and the cocksure certainty of precisely that effect upon any man who dared to gaze into that face for more than a few seconds.One wonders how much she was aware of the thermonuclear force of that face in real life. Olivier is gone, and so is she, so we'll probably never know. But we do know this: Vivien's best friend as a youngster was the formidable -- and slightly older -- Maureen O'Sullivan, she of "Tarzan the Apeman," and no lightweight herself when it came to bowling men over.While there are hints of Scarlet in Vivien in "Waterloo Bridge" and "That Hamilton Woman," none of the other films I know of allow her to be the manipulative, coercive, self-obsessed, narcissistic, pouting diva that she was as Libby and Scarlet. Had Selznick seen rushes or scenes from "Sideawalks..." before or after he cast Leigh in her legend maker? Did he see Scarlet right there in black and white? One wonders. Because Libby =is= Scarlet O'Hara regardless of the surrounding scenery and cockney word-chewing. The similarities do not end there. Virtually every expression and and mannerism is fully formed and on display in Libby the busker =and= Libby the diva. Harrison is a more sophisticated, straightforward and cynical version of Leslie Howard's Ashley Wilkes. And Thomas Mitchell's Gerald O'Hara looks and sounds a =lot= like Lawton's Charlie Staggers.I'm forced to think that Selznick =did= see "Sidewalks..." and that he saw it far more than once. But in whatever event, those who caught the Viv bug as badly as I did years ago should be pleased to see her living right up to our expectations after so many other relative disappointments.

Vivien Leigh is the major draw to this somewhat primitive 1930's era film. It is hard to believe that Gone With the Wind was made only the next year. As always, Miss Leigh adds a certain vitality to any work that she did. The plot was simple an easy to understand, and the movie runs less than 90 minutes. More could have been done to develop the characters or resolve issues at the end of the film. What was Liberty's background that made her homeless? Why did she want to help the others after she "made it big?" The street performers are probably hard for Americans to understand, especially that long ago.It is easy to see from her work here why Vivien Leigh got other major roles as she grew exponentially in her abilities during the 1930's. The facial expressions and spirit are clearly there, but there were many limitations to this vehicle for her great talent.Worth a look for Leigh fans or those seeking period pieces. Oh how life has changed in 60 plus years.