St. Martin's Lane

St. Martin's Lane (1939)

A heart-stirring drama of peace-time London!

Pickpocket Libby is protected by aging street performer Charles, who takes her into his troupe. Libby's dancing leads her to meet songwriter Harley and launch a stage career, while Charles is seemingly spurned by the waif he has helped.

Date of release
1939-09-06
TMDB
7.4 / 10 (28)
Runtime
1h 25m
Genres
Comedy, Drama
Director
Tim Whelan

Casting

Interesting facts

St Martin's Lane, also known as Sidewalks of London, London After Dark, and Partners of the Night, is a 1938 British black-and-white comedy drama starring Charles Laughton as a busker who teams up with a talented pickpocket, played by Vivien Leigh. The film co-stars Rex Harrison and Tyrone Guthrie in a rare acting appearance. It also features Ronald Shiner as the barman (uncredited). It was produced by Laughton's Mayflower Pictures Corporation.

Production

According to Vivien Leigh's biographer Alexander Walker, Laughton and Vivien Leigh did not get along while working together. Walker wrote that when an attempt was made to obtain Leigh's services for a film version of Cyrano de Bergerac, Laughton stated that she would have to dye her hair blonde. Leigh asked for a blonde wig, but Laughton insisted she dye her hair. The discussions fell through and Leigh felt slighted.

When Leigh was approached to make Sidewalks of London, she did not want to work with Laughton and she felt no attachment to the role. Nevertheless, she was persuaded otherwise. In Alexander Walker's biography of Leigh, Larry Adler is quoted as saying that Leigh was difficult to work with. He said, "She didn't like Charles and he didn't like her. But he was much more professional.

Editor Hugh Stewart called it "a dreadful film".

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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