It Always Rains on Sunday

I went to see It Always Rains on Sunday a couple of days ago at the BFI. It is a British film made by Robert Hamer in 1947 and is part of the BFIs Dark Ealing series. I have now become slightly obsessed with it because it is so good - it is going to be released around the country and on DVD so if you get the chance check it out.

It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)

The film is set in Bethnal Green, stars Googie Withers (who is brilliant) and centres on the claustrophobic interior of a small terraced house. The plot has a bit of everything - melodrama, thriller, action, romance but what I liked the most were the everyday details. The record shop on Petticoat Lane, the bits of Yiddish dialogue and talk of Jewish families moving to Stamford Hill,  the Anderson Shelter in the backyard, the bread and marg etc etc. These details are a seamless part of the whole. The film is sometimes called a British film noir and also cited as the first kitchen sink film. It does have both of those genres represented in it but like another British film that is really worth seeing,  Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957), it is not easily categorised.

Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957)