Sidewalks Of London (1938) :
Brief Review -
An attempt to bring that "Chaplin Style Burn" terribly misjudged and misplaced. As she says, a man at 40 ought to have more sense. Sidewalks Of London wanted to bring something really good for the late 30s era but has failed miserably to understand what they were actually trying to tell and blunders done in the writing. If you remember those Chaplin's classics which left us with a burn in the climax, or some of those silent films of the 20s like 'He Who Gets Slapped' and 'Laugh Clown Laugh', then you don't really have to see Sidewalks Of London. Because you have seen better versions, better films, actually Classics that can't be forgotten. Charles, a street performer takes a young pickpocket Libby home and gives her the break she needed. Soon, she gets to perform on stage, becomes a great success and goes to Hollywood. In the meantime, drunk Charles proposes to her to marry but she declines as she has fallen in love with some young top class fella. Here, the writer wants to shows the greedy nature of Libby and even has Mr Prentiss giving her a tight poke on that but it is filmed so childishly. 'I don't want to become another Charles,' he says when she proposes to him but what happens after that? Nobody knows. He disappears suddenly and Libby has suddenly turned good to Charles. How? Only if anybody can tell. Like that lady says, a man at 40 ought to have more sense and Charles' character is a complete disaster. He is a fool, a big one and totally a brainless kind of guy. How'd have to feel sorry him? The entire motive of the narrative is dead at this point. All the characters in the film are childishly presented hence, they don't make out enough logic needed to send out those philosophical ideologies. Overall, a senseless film somehow saved by Laughton's act. It just don't make sense at all, even though it has a fulfilling end.
RATING - 5/10*
By - #samthebestest.
An attempt to bring that "Chaplin Style Burn" terribly misjudged and misplaced. As she says, a man at 40 ought to have more sense. Sidewalks Of London wanted to bring something really good for the late 30s era but has failed miserably to understand what they were actually trying to tell and blunders done in the writing. If you remember those Chaplin's classics which left us with a burn in the climax, or some of those silent films of the 20s like 'He Who Gets Slapped' and 'Laugh Clown Laugh', then you don't really have to see Sidewalks Of London. Because you have seen better versions, better films, actually Classics that can't be forgotten. Charles, a street performer takes a young pickpocket Libby home and gives her the break she needed. Soon, she gets to perform on stage, becomes a great success and goes to Hollywood. In the meantime, drunk Charles proposes to her to marry but she declines as she has fallen in love with some young top class fella. Here, the writer wants to shows the greedy nature of Libby and even has Mr Prentiss giving her a tight poke on that but it is filmed so childishly. 'I don't want to become another Charles,' he says when she proposes to him but what happens after that? Nobody knows. He disappears suddenly and Libby has suddenly turned good to Charles. How? Only if anybody can tell. Like that lady says, a man at 40 ought to have more sense and Charles' character is a complete disaster. He is a fool, a big one and totally a brainless kind of guy. How'd have to feel sorry him? The entire motive of the narrative is dead at this point. All the characters in the film are childishly presented hence, they don't make out enough logic needed to send out those philosophical ideologies. Overall, a senseless film somehow saved by Laughton's act. It just don't make sense at all, even though it has a fulfilling end.
RATING - 5/10*
By - #samthebestest.