I Believe in You

When this film was being made a new class was forming in society that would have a powerful effect on the future,namely teenagers.To a certain extent they seem to be ignored altogether in this film.As a result all the usual eccentrics would be wheeled in to this film to show that nothing had changed.Katie Johnson and her cat could have been Mrs Wilberforce with her 5 musicians.The only sop to the younger generation are Joan Collins,Harry Fowler and Laurence Harvey.Now Fowler was a decent enough bloke but do you really think that she would prefer life with him to the passionate and dangerous affair with Harvey,i hardly think so.As other reviewers have noted the air of smug paternalism overwhelms this film,be it the magistrate or the Probation Officers or the Police.

Ealing was at it's most earnest when it decided to make probation officers the subjects of this film, entrusted to the reliable team of Dearden and Ralph (the latter's father actually featuring in the cast). Cecil Parker for once gets a part of real substance as a former colonial administrator who quickly learns that there's a lot more to London than just Kensington and the West End, and is ably flanked by the lovely Celia Johnson. Future stars include a teenaged Joan Collins looking pretty the same as she still does, Sid James as a moustached police sergeant, Brenda De Banzie and dear old Katie Johnson as a batty old cat-lady. Ursula Howells is cast wildly against type as a drunken deb, Harry Fowler plays a tearaway with a chip on his shoulder, Lawrence Harvey is hilarious as a swaggering wide boy; but the most touching scene is easily depicting Parker discovered an extremely elderly Ada Reeve was once young.

... more intimate, about modest people and lost youth, so there are a lot of surprising details, some funny, some disturbing. "I believe in you" is not a shocker like "All night long" or "Violent playground", it is softer and more accurate on the post war social background in rare London locations. All the casting is very effective in describing these modest people. We can appreciate young Joan Collins and Laurence Harvey. Sadly still unavailable on dvd. So many fine gems in british cinema.