Main Cast: Charles Laughton, Vivien Leigh, Rex Harrison, Larry Adler, Tyrone Guthrie
Release Year: 1938
Country: UK
Run Time: 86 minutes
Plot
After befriending talented dancer and pickpocket Libby (Vivien Leigh), street performer Charles (Charles Saggers) strikes up a partnership with the gifted young performer and invites Libby to join his act. With Libby's graceful moves steadily drawing an audience to Charles' dramatic act, the performers soon catch the eye of theater magnate Harley (Rex Harrison), who is so mesmerized by the performance that he invites Libby and her fellow performers to a post-play party. When Libby arrives at the party alone, her career rapidly ascends, as Charles and the rest of the performers remain behind to toil amongst the famished masses. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Review
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. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Gus McNaughton - Arthur Smith; Bartlett Cormack - Strang; Edward Lexy - Mr. Such; Maire O'Neill - Mrs. Such; Basil Gill - Magistrate; Clare Greet - Old Maud; David Burns - Hackett; Cyril Smith - Blackface; Ronald Ward - Temperley; Romilly Lunge - Duchesi; Phyllis Stanley - Della Fordingbridge; Jerry Verno - Drunk; Polly Ward - Frankie; Alf Goddard - Doggie; C. Gibbons Orchestra; Carroll Gibbons; Helen Haye - Lady Selina; The Luna Boys
