The E Lamp (DVD)

An immensely popular British crime film, The Blue Lamp was scripted by ex-policeman T.E.B. Clarke (The Lavender Hill Mob) and directed by the great Basil Dearden (Dead of Night). This classic film noir concentrates on interrelated episodes in the lives of several London policemen. A veteran cop is murdered by small-time delinquents Tom Riley (Dirk Bogarde, The Mind Benders) and Spud (Patric Doonan, The Man in the White Suit). Rookie cop Andy Mitchell (Jimmy Hanley, Radio Cab Murder), who looked up to the veteran policeman as a father figure, embarks on a perilous search to bring his mentor’s killers to justice. Shot in a pioneering semi-documentary style by Gordon Dines (Pool of London), the film focuses on ordinary heroes and a new breed of young criminal, hardened by the war years, whose recklessness and violence contrasts with the discipline of the older criminal fraternity. Jack Warner (It Always Rains on Sunday) leads a great cast featuring Robert Flemyng (The Blood Beast Terror), Bernard Lee (Dr. No) and Peggy Evans (Calling Bulldog Drummond).