ShangLuda Admirable film.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

jjnxn-1 Sidewalks of London, also known as St. Martin's Lane, is a fascinating drama with two acting greats, Charles Laughton and Vivien Leigh, sparking off each other and delivering dynamic performances. Vivien, this was the last film she made before GWTW, is an ambitious young dancer who teams up with Laughton as a street performer before moving on to bigger things. Their interaction makes this terribly affecting and they manage to make their characters, even with their faults, relatable and sympathetic. Separatly they are terrific but when they share scenes something magical happens and the picture is transformed from a simple story of an ambitious girl on the make into something truly special. A wonderful undiscovered gem.

blanche-2 "Sidewalks of London" or "St. Martin's Lane" (American title) from 1938 is an amazing little film starring three tremendous stars: Vivien Leigh, Charles Laughton, and Rex Harrison. And that's not all. None other than Tyrone Guthrie, one of the great impresarios of the theater, is a supporting player, as is the blacklisted composer Larry Adler who finally made England his permanent home; and Broadway star David Burns, a two-time Tony award winner, who died on stage in 1971.The story concerns "buskers" (street performers) in London's theatre district/ One day, while Charles Staggers (Laughton) is doing his thing and people are dropping coins in his hat, a deft little con artist named Liberty (Libby) (Leigh) steals money from him and then steals a gold cigarette case from a gentleman (Harrison) in a coffee shop.Charles follows her and gets the case from her to turn it in to the police for the reward, but not before he has seen her rehearse a dance number. He adds her to the act.When she meets Harley Prentiss (Harrison) again, he has no idea she's the one who stole his case, and he thinks she has great potential for the stage and takes her under his wing. He also falls in love with her.Charles, of course, is in love with her, too, and goes into a funk after she abandons the buskers.A good movie made historically interesting by the presence of these stars who are top-notch. Leigh is as gorgeous as she is delightful, Laughton is brilliant, and Harrison foreshadows his Henry Higgins role by 17 years or so. The thing I can't get over is how incredibly young Laughton and Harrison were! This is a lovely film, and Laughton will break your heart one minute and have you smiling the next. See it.

Michael Reddy I bought this film because I am in to old classic films.This film is an enjoyable period piece about a pickpocket that finds her way to stardom in the theater but realizes that she got there the wrong way.It really invokes the time and place it depicts.I thought Vivien Leigh was good but Charles Laughton really made the picture.His acting is really the highlight of this picture.His performance is very convincing and gives a real sense of how he would be on the stage.Rex Harrison really has a bit part to play as Liberty's lover and sponsor but he acts pretty well.There are a few musical numbers that I enjoyed."Spoiler", The scene between between Liberty and Charles in her bedroom was my favourite scene in the whole movie.Overall I enjoyed this film and would recommend it to anybody who is into early cinema .

howardmorley Reading the comments above from American users I was surprised about their apparent ignorance of London buskers or street performers.I am sure that they had their equivalent in New York's theatre district in 1938.Vivien was an accomplished dancer (witness her role of Myra the ballet student in "Waterloo Bridge" (1940) with Robert Taylor, and she had the opportunity to show off her terpsichorean ability in this film.I agree however with many of the comments above praising the acting of the three stars, Charlie Laughton, Rex Harrison and of course Viv.Nowadays, from what I can see buskers perform in one place in London's theatre district, at a big paved off area at Covent Garden - (the Health & Safety executive lobby is wide & all powerful!) Obviously this film has been overshadowed by Viv's more famous films, but I awarded it 7/10 as it shows off her versatility.My only criticism was her difficulty in maintaining an authentic Cockney accent but of course drama schools in the 1930s drummed out regional vernacular accents from their students, long before the current trend of casting actors with authentic sounding voices.My copy is on a "Double Kino Video Feature" along with Henry Fonda's "Wings of the Morning".Users who like this film should also seek out "Storm in a Teacup" who apart from Viv & Rex has Cecil Parker.