Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Celia A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

MartinHafer This slice of life film is set in a boarding house in a neighborhood in London just before WWII. Sprinkled throughout the home and the film are a wide variety of strange and interesting characters. So why do I only give the film a 5? Well, despite some clever writing and characters, the movie hinges on one character--a young idiot car thief (Richard Attenborough) who accidentally kills a lady. He clearly might not have meant to kill her but he was responsible for her death and he is no angel. Yet, inexplicably, the last portion of the film is all about a petition to obtain clemency for him. My feelings about this big portion of the film is who cares?! Had he been more likable or innocent, then it would have worked. As it is, the film is seeking empathy for someone simply not deserving it...and it weakens the entire film as a result. Not a terrible film and it is interesting, but ultimately it fails due to so much in the movie resting on this criminal case.

Malcolm Parker An interesting narrative voyage, which truly defies a neat categorisation. The film points us in several different directions, but is constructed chiefly around the lives of Mr and Mrs Josser and their daughter Doris who live in the ground floor of No 10 Dulcimer Street in London in 1938 -39. Retiring after many years of loyal service at the same company, Mr Josser is looking forward to settling down with his wife in a small cottage in the country. With war on the horizon, convention might dictate that this would become a primary theme, however, like life, this film isn't like that - war does come, but to these ordinary folk, it's only a small part of the scenery. Instead we are given a wonderful tapestry of richly played intertwined vignettes. Some humorous, some dramatic but all of which serve to draw us in. Mr Josser and his family are often incidental to the main point of focus, but isn't that often just how life is!

miloc This odd little comedy/drama from Sidney Gilliat doesn't really hold a lot of water, but does hold a fair amount of charm, as the motley occupants of a London boarding house rally in support of one of their own, a young would-be spiv arrested for murder. As the youth in question Attenborough is pop-eyed, guilt-wracked and hapless, eerily resembling a young Peter Lorre-- we feel sorry for him, though we may not empathize much. But the film's emotional shadings come from the older actors like Wylie Watson, Fay Compton, and Joyce Carey (no, not the novelist), who stand by the boy simply because they know it's the right thing to do.The plot's barely there, but there's a lovely eccentric atmosphere to it all, and also a juicy supporting bit for the great Alastair Sim. Hilariously morose, with a strange and seedy profession, his Mr. Squales would provide inspiration some seven years later for Alec Guinness's great turn in The Ladykillers, down to the overbite and the lank, terrible hair. Sim was a few years away yet from being the UK's most popular film star; he was the weirdest and most watchable of screen idols. He walks away with the film.

The_Secretive_Bus A nicely evoked 1930s setting provides much interest for a viewer in the early 21st century; unfortunately, "London Belongs to Me" has little else to recommend it besides lashings of quaint English charm. All of the problems rest with the deeply unfocused story. The main plot concerns the actions of young lad Richard Attenborough, the problems he gets into and how the community in which he lives bands together to save him from society's laws. Or something. The main issue here is that Attenborough's character brings everything upon himself and, quite frankly, is guilty of almost every accusation brought against him, so it's baffling why the film (and all the characters) have so much sympathy for him. He's treated as a victim of circumstance when he really, really isn't; and what's more he isn't shown to have very much remorse for his actions, only caring about getting away with things he didn't mean to do. Alastair Sim gets a lot of screen time in a subplot that has absolutely nothing to do with the main plot line and you wonder what he's doing there (though Sim is, as always, superb). You know there's a problem with the structure when the main plot impacts constantly against the subplot but not vice-versa. And, following a sedate pace and a careful build up, the plot completely falls apart in the last 20 minutes with a deeply unsatisfying and unexplained conclusion which doesn't even show us if Attenborough's character has developed at all from the previous proceedings. The film doesn't end, it just stops.The acting, direction and the general feel of the film can all be commended but unfortunately the story and structure of the piece jars constantly. A last point of trivia: Alec Guinness based his performance in the vastly superior film "The Ladykillers" on Alastair Sim's performance in this film, right down to both the characters having almost identical first scenes.