The Blue Lamp is a British crime film released in early 1950 by Ealing Studios, directed by Basil Dearden and produced by Michael Balcon. It stars Jack Warner as police constable George Dixon, Jimmy Hanley and Dirk Bogarde in an early role. It was the progenitor of the long-running television series Dixon of Dock Green (even though Dixon's murder is the central plot of the original film).
The title refers to the blue lamps that traditionally hung outside British police stations (and often still do). George Dixon is named after producer Michael Balcon's former school in Birmingham.
The screenplay was written by ex-policeman T. E. B. Clarke. The film is an early example of the "social realism" films that would emerge later in the 1950s and 1960s, but it follows a simple moral structure in which the police are the honest guardians of a decent society, battling the disorganised crime of a few unruly youths.
Read more about The Blue Lamp: Plot, Cast, Production, Locations Used, Legacy
Famous quotes containing the word blue:
“I think I noticed once
T’was morning one sole street-lamp still bright-lit,
Which, with a senile grin, like an old dunce,
Vied the blue sky, and tried to rival it....”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)