Pool of London

This remarkable London-set crime drama tells the story of Dan MacDonald (Bonar Colleano) and Johnny Lambert (Earl Cameron), two seamen entangled in a smuggling racket. Filmmaker Basil Dearden, one of Britain’s finest talents, directs with his typical rigor and makes a bold choice for its time by casting Black actor Cameron as the romantic lead. Dearden lends an eerie despair to London’s winding streets, famous bridges, dark tunnels, and massive cathedrals by virtually emptying them of other people, creating a sense of isolation that echoes the region’s prevailing postwar sentiments.

Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.

1951 | 85 min. | UK | Black-and-White | English | Not Rated | DCP

DIRECTED BY: Basil Dearden  

WRITTEN BY: Jack Whittingham, John Eldridge  

WITH: Bonar Colleano, Susan Shaw, Earl Cameron, Renée Asherson