It Always Rains on Sunday (1947)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

It Always Rains on Sunday (1947) – R. Hamer

Not exactly the Brit-Noir, I thought it would be, but instead something different, foreshadowing the later kitchen-sink melodramas (Look Back in Anger, 1956; Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, 1960; A Taste of Honey, 1961) that would also look at the struggles of the British working class.  Here, Googie Withers plays a young housewife battling with two grown stepdaughters and looking after a husband 15 years her senior. When her ex-lover escapes from prison and takes refuge in her garden shed, you get the feeling she would like to escape from her “prison” too.  But the story doesn’t stay focused tightly on Googie; instead, there is a sort of “Our Town” feel to the proceedings as various subplots reveal the different residents of East End suburb Bethnal Green (a philandering bandleader and his wife, three petty thieves and the local cop, a generous bookie).  All of these subplots have a connection to the main story, either to the main family or the escaped convict. And, finally, the film takes its turn into noir, as the escapee flees through the streets of London with the cops in hot pursuit and Googie considers the consequences of her choices.  Another solid effort from Ealing Studios.