"Sidewalks of London" or "St. Martin's Lane" (American title) from 1938 is an amazing little film starring three tremendous stars: Vivien Leigh, Charles Laughton, and Rex Harrison. And that's not all. None other than Tyrone Guthrie, one of the great impresarios of the theater, is a supporting player, as is the blacklisted composer Larry Adler who finally made England his permanent home; and Broadway star David Burns, a two-time Tony award winner, who died on stage in 1971.
The story concerns "buskers" (street performers) in London's theatre district/ One day, while Charles Staggers (Laughton) is doing his thing and people are dropping coins in his hat, a deft little con artist named Liberty (Libby) (Leigh) steals money from him and then steals a gold cigarette case from a gentleman (Harrison) in a coffee shop.
Charles follows her and gets the case from her to turn it in to the police for the reward, but not before he has seen her rehearse a dance number. He adds her to the act.
When she meets Harley Prentiss (Harrison) again, he has no idea she's the one who stole his case, and he thinks she has great potential for the stage and takes her under his wing. He also falls in love with her.
Charles, of course, is in love with her, too, and goes into a funk after she abandons the buskers.
A good movie made historically interesting by the presence of these stars who are top-notch. Leigh is as gorgeous as she is delightful, Laughton is brilliant, and Harrison foreshadows his Henry Higgins role by 17 years or so.
The thing I can't get over is how incredibly young Laughton and Harrison were! This is a lovely film, and Laughton will break your heart one minute and have you smiling the next. See it.
The story concerns "buskers" (street performers) in London's theatre district/ One day, while Charles Staggers (Laughton) is doing his thing and people are dropping coins in his hat, a deft little con artist named Liberty (Libby) (Leigh) steals money from him and then steals a gold cigarette case from a gentleman (Harrison) in a coffee shop.
Charles follows her and gets the case from her to turn it in to the police for the reward, but not before he has seen her rehearse a dance number. He adds her to the act.
When she meets Harley Prentiss (Harrison) again, he has no idea she's the one who stole his case, and he thinks she has great potential for the stage and takes her under his wing. He also falls in love with her.
Charles, of course, is in love with her, too, and goes into a funk after she abandons the buskers.
A good movie made historically interesting by the presence of these stars who are top-notch. Leigh is as gorgeous as she is delightful, Laughton is brilliant, and Harrison foreshadows his Henry Higgins role by 17 years or so.
The thing I can't get over is how incredibly young Laughton and Harrison were! This is a lovely film, and Laughton will break your heart one minute and have you smiling the next. See it.