Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Basil Dearden
Starring: Philip Friend, Tommy Trinder, James Mason, Mervyn
Johns, William Hartnell
During WWII, filmmakers working in both Hollywood and the British film
industry were expected to contribute to the war effort by implementing
propaganda into their work. In Hollywood, directors like Fritz Lang and
Alfred Hitchcock did so by simply making the Nazis and Japanese the
villains of the sort of thrillers they would have made regardless of
whether America was at war. Rather than focussing on the enemy, Britain's
wartime filmmakers tended towards a more reserved form of jingoism centred
on celebrating the character of the British public and its resolve in the
face of unprecedented adversary. Where the American wartime thrillers
usually gave us a lone hero, Britain's home front dramas put communitiy
spirit front and centre. "We're strongest together" was the message of
these movies. It's no wonder Britain so readily embraced socialism at the
end of the war.
The community of Basil Dearden's 1943 film The Bells Go Down is a corner of London's East End, where we find cockney pub owners,
Irish cops, Jewish store owners and Italian grocers. All walks of life
come together when Britain declares war on Germany and preparations begin
for an inevitable attack on London.
In what plays like a precursor to the sort of workplace comedies and
dramas that would become popular in Hollywood movies and TV shows of the
'70s and '80s, Dearden's film is centred on the men and women of London's
Auxiliary Fire Service. With bombs set to drop on London, the volunteers
of the AFS must be quickly trained in order to be able to support London's
Fire Brigade when needed.
They're as ragtag a bunch as those found in Police Academy and its '80s clones. Tommy (Tommy Trinder) is a cockney lad
with an eye for the ladies and the racetrack. The middle class Bob (Philip Friend) has put off his wedding to Nan (Philippa Hiatt) to do his bit. Petty criminal Sam (Mervyn Johns) balances his AFS duties with stealing kegs of Guinness and evading
Irish bobby O'Brien (Richard George). Brooks (future Dr
Who William Hartnell) is a Spanish Civil War veteran who
warns his naive colleagues of what to expect from a fascist enemy. These
men fall under the command of professional firefighter Ted (James Mason), who isn't too happy about being lumbered with these rank amateurs,
especially when Tommy begins making moves on his girlfriend Susie (Meriel Forbes).
The Bells Go Down is dramatically hamstrung by its progandistic remit to portray its
heroes as a chipper bunch whose spirit can't be broken. As a result all
the characters come off as one-dimensional in their commitment to their
service. None of the men are allowed to express any anxiety, well at
least not regarding the actual war: Ted is more perturbed by the idea of
losing his girl to another man than losing his loved ones to a Luftwaffe
bomb. Despite finding themselves in a London rapidly resembling a
Hellish inferno, the men continue making jokes and hitting on their
female colleagues. The integration of actual Blitz footage only serves
to make its upbeat tone all the more dubious.
The comedy mostly comes via Trinder, one of those gratingly unfunny
music hall comics so beloved by British audiences of the era. The
proto-Carry On humour only serves to date the film and much of it comes off as a
little classist. Reflecting their character dynamic, you get the
impression that Mason was none too happy with lowering himself to work
alongside Trinder, as he looks miserable throughout - talk about a
mismatch!
Dearden would go on to establish himself as one of Britain's finest and
most versatile filmmakers in the post-war years, and there are some
hints of what's to come to be found amid the rubble of misjudged comedy
here. A set-piece in which Tommy's greyhound chases a fire truck through
London traffic is rendered with all the excitement of the car chases
from Dearden's future police thrillers. There are moments of pathos that
genuinely pay respectful tribute to the Blitz spirit, like when Suzie
fakes hearing a voice emanating from the ruins of a levelled pub in
order for the wardens to search for survivors, or Bob manning the hose
on another house while his own home goes up in flames. But to get to
such moments you have to endure a lot of bad comedy and a whole lot of
footage of buildings being hosed down.
The Bells Go Down is on UK
VOD, DVD and bluray from June 24th.