T.E.B. Clarke

A plucky young Harry Fowler leads a gang of East End youths who are outraged to discover that black market smugglers are communicating through the pages of their favourite comic. Alastair Sim is a delight as the comic's artist Felix H Wilkinson, but with its abductions and menacing phony cop, there's real suspense, too. It's set solidly amid the ruins of blitzed London and in that long-gone age, a horde of kids swarm over the rubble to apprehend the crooks. Scripted by TEB Clarke, of Passport to Pimlico fame, it's a real treat, even by Ealing standards.

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A sublime Ealing comedy, with an Oscar-winning script by T.E.B. Clarke. Alec Guinness is a lowly bank clerk who teams up with hefty Stanley Holloway to pull off an outrageous bullion robbery. Crichton directs with a deft touch and among the usual suspects are henchmen Alfie Bass and Sid James.