The Blue Lamp
| The Blue Lamp | |
|---|---|
Original UK quad poster by James Boswell | |
| Directed by | Basil Dearden |
| Screenplay by | T.E.B. Clarke |
| Based on | Original treatment by Jan Read and Ted Willis |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon |
| Starring | Jack Warner Jimmy Hanley Dirk Bogarde Robert Flemyng |
| Cinematography | Gordon Dines |
| Edited by | Peter Tanner |
| Music by | Ernest Irving Jack Parnell (uncredited) |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | General Film Distributors |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 85 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £142,304 |
| Box office | £246,000 |
The Blue Lamp is a 1950 British police procedural film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Jack Warner as PC Dixon, Jimmy Hanley as newcomer PC Mitchell and Dirk Bogarde as criminal Tom Riley.
The title refers to the blue lamps that traditionally hung outside British police stations. The film became the inspiration for the 1955–1976 TV series Dixon of Dock Green, in which Warner continued to play PC Dixon until he was 80 years old (even though Dixon is murdered in the original film).
The screenplay was written by Ealing regular T. E. B. Clarke, who had been a war reserve constable. The film is an early example of the social realism films that emerged later in the 1950s and 1960s, sometimes using a partial documentary-style approach. There are also cinematic influences of the film noir genre, particularly in underworld scenes featuring Bogarde, such as the pool rooms and in and around the theatre, making deliberate use of genre trademarks such as slow-moving low camera angles and stark lighting.