St. Martin's Lane Reviews

Tim Whelan's St. Martin's Lane (released in America as Sidewalks of London) was the best of Vivien Leigh's early British movies, dating from the period before she was brought to Hollywood for Gone With the Wind. Erich Pommer's production and Clemence Dane's script gave her the best vehicle she'd ever had, and not only did she have Charles Laughton to play off of at his best, but Rex Harrison, theatrical acting and directing legend Tyrone Guthrie, and harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler to surround her. A lesser young actress would have wilted away in that company, but Leigh rose to the occasion, and she comes off as a hauntingly stunning creature that melts into the role of a street busker and petty thief; it's the kind of part that actresses dream of getting, and she played it better than anyone from that period this side of Wendy Hiller could have. (Curiously, it's also the kind of part that Joan Collins could have run away with a dozen years later, but Rank wasn't making as good of movies in the early '50s.) Between Whelan's light, deft touch to the realistic setting and the extraordinary cast, the movie stands out as one of the best British productions of the '30s and one of the most enduringly appealing of its era.