It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) Escaped Con Brit Noir

Directed by Robert Hamer (The Long Memory (1953)).

Based on the novel by Arthur La Bern. The screenplay was written by Angus MacPhail, Robert Hamer, and Henry Cornelius.

The film stars Googie Withers as Rose Sandigate, Edward Chapman as George Sandigate, Susan Shaw as Vi Sandigate, Patricia Plunkett as Doris Sandigate, David Lines as Alfie Sandigate, Sydney Tafler as Morry Hyams, Betty Ann Davies as Sadie Hyams, John Slater as Lou Hyams, Jane Hylton as Bessie Hyams, Meier Tzelniker as Solly Hyams, father of Morry, John McCallum as Tommy Swann, Jimmy Hanley as Whitey, John Carol as Freddie, Alfie Bass as Dicey Perkins, Nigel Stock as Ted Edwards, Jack Warner as Detective Sergeant Fothergill, Frederick Piper as Detective Sergeant Leech, Michael Howard as Slopey Collins, and Hermione Baddeley as Doss-house keeper.

Sunday. Early Morning. Alley cat. Scoping food. Droplets splatter a garbage bin. A bobby making his beat.

Tommy Swann. Escaped con. Heading to the place he knows best, Low rent Bethnal Green, East End, London. Rain. Coming down harder. Tommy jumps down into a railroad cut and makes his way along the tracks. First light.

George Sandigate is awake. Rose is his wife. She is still asleep. They have two daughters from Georges previous marriage. The rain is coming in the window. He gets up in time to see his eldest daughter Vi just getting home.

Googie Withers as Rose Sandigate

Patricia Plunkett as Doris Sandigate,

Susan Shaw as Vi Sandigate

Vi hangs out dancing at The Palace a ballroom dance joint. Shes been out with the sax player Morry Hyams, who runs a record store by day.

Sydney Tafler as Morry Hyams with Vi

Hes married to Sadie who figures somethings stinko. She slips into the house and into the bed she shares with fully clothed. Morry's brother Lou, is a small time hood a fence who handles stolen merchandise and the owner of an amusement arcade. He fancies Doris Sandigate. Doris has a steady boyfriend Ted Edwards.

Jack Warner as Detective Sergeant Fothergill

Morry Hyams with Ann Davies as Sadie Hyams

Nigel Stock as Ted Edwards

John Slater as Lou Hyams with Doris

Rose gets her youngest daughter up by banging on the wall. She brings in the morning tea and the paper. As George reads the news he tells Rose that..Tommy Swann her old beau has escaped Dartmoor Prison.

Edward Chapman as George Sandigate with wife Rose

Rose flashes back to the days when her carpet didn't match her blonde drapes. She was a sexy B-girl pouring drinks at a local.

Back when Rose was a blonde lust at first sight

John McCallum as Tommy Swann

She was young and horny. Tommy was a dashing crook. It was "love" on the first date. They are inseparable. At a private picnic where, apparently more than just food was eaten, Rose is laying with her head in Tommy's lap.

Rose with her head in Tommy's lap

Tommy gives Rose a ring. They are going to be married. A few days later while Rose is packing for their elopement she gets the bad news, Tommy got busted on a smash and grab job up in Manchester and get a big sentence.

Rose goes back to reality.

The rain is coming through the broken pane in the back yard door. The kitchen floor is getting wet. Rose goes out the Anderson a correlated pipe air raid shelter/shed to get some tar paper. to cover the hole. She is surprised by Tommy who is hiding in there. He asks her if she could just hide him till night.

She agrees to help him even though she knows it's a two year sentence if she gets caught. While Tommy hides out during the day the tension builds as the police close in. Of course it all goes Noirsville.

Noirvsille

Rose's fires still burn for Tommy

Step Mom-Daughter cat fight

Meier Tzelniker as Solly Hyams

Kudos to cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, the slow build to the gorgeous chiaroscuro sequences in the rail yards is worth the wait. Music by Georges Auric.

Director Robert Hamer nicely weaves the story of the Sandigate family with various neighborhood denizens lives in a 24 hour tale of lost dreams, dashed desires and dead ends. This emotional family drama is masterfully intermingled with the inevitable denouement with the police. You'll notice if you watch enough British Noir the police in their films are always steadfast and resolute and there is never any shadow of a doubt that all miscreants will receive justice. Must have had something to do with their version of the MPPC the BBFC, the British Board of Film Censors. 7.5/10.