This is a fascinating (every reviewer seems to need to use this word and I'm no exception) tour of some hidden corners of London which were about to disappear forever (a crumbling music hall where Marie Lloyd once trod the boards) or survived to rise again. The Roundhouse became a successful venue for live performances - The Doors made their only UK appearance there a year after this film was released.
More important perhaps are the views of ordinary people going about their daily lives, market shopping, eating eel pie and mash in a café (note the prices 'Potato 6d' a portion - that's 2.5p!). These are faces I remember from my childhood, old people with toothless mouths (after living through the 1930's with no National Health Service).
Most moving are the people living in the Salvation Army shelter, those who have run out of options and have nowhere to go. I find the final interview in the film incredibly moving: an old man in an old overcoat and homburg hat which are too large for him explains how he has tried to make something of his life. "I have tried very hard... in many ways... to become something of myself... very hard indeed..." he says staring forlornly ahead of him. You just know, looking at him, that things won't work out - he is just one of life's unfortunates. He finishes by singing a Hebrew prayer (presumably he was Jewish) watched by a group of children.
Thankfully the film finishes on a humorous note as a religious speaker tells a group of half-a-dozen people "The End Is Nigh". They drift away and the man packs his things and follows them.
This is a an incredible little film, beautifully shot, and leaves you wishing it had been twice as long.
More important perhaps are the views of ordinary people going about their daily lives, market shopping, eating eel pie and mash in a café (note the prices 'Potato 6d' a portion - that's 2.5p!). These are faces I remember from my childhood, old people with toothless mouths (after living through the 1930's with no National Health Service).
Most moving are the people living in the Salvation Army shelter, those who have run out of options and have nowhere to go. I find the final interview in the film incredibly moving: an old man in an old overcoat and homburg hat which are too large for him explains how he has tried to make something of his life. "I have tried very hard... in many ways... to become something of myself... very hard indeed..." he says staring forlornly ahead of him. You just know, looking at him, that things won't work out - he is just one of life's unfortunates. He finishes by singing a Hebrew prayer (presumably he was Jewish) watched by a group of children.
Thankfully the film finishes on a humorous note as a religious speaker tells a group of half-a-dozen people "The End Is Nigh". They drift away and the man packs his things and follows them.
This is a an incredible little film, beautifully shot, and leaves you wishing it had been twice as long.