London Belongs to Me

At 10 Dulcimer Street, in the Kennington district of South London, there lived before the war a widow who believed the spirits of the dear departed could speak to her; a fake medium who tried to marry the widow for her money; a young boy who accidentally killed a girl when he pushed her out of a speeding, stolen car; a young girl in love with a policeman who arrested the young boy for murder; an elderly gentleman, retired, who used his life savings to keep the boy from the gallows; a perennial flapper who checked hats in a night club, and assorted mothers, fathers, and crackpot orators. An adaptation of a five-pound hovel by Norman Collins, "Dulcimer," like the novel, is a gargantuan production. It runs 112 minutes. The credit sheet lists 58 players. There are three or four stories going at the same time. It's a J. Arthur Rank presentation; a Launder-Gilliat production; an Individual Picture, and a Universal-International release from Prestige Pictures. Starring Richard Attenborough, Alastair Sim, Fay Compton and Stephen Murray, "Dulcimer" starts out with several little stories - the homey stuff, life in a boarding house - and then twists the stories together in a murder story. Up until the time the crack-pot saviors of the world take over the plot in an attempt to win a reprieve for the young man accused of murder, the story sticks to the hearth-and-home, the types are familiar, believable and understood. Later, however, the characters disintegrate into types and the plot gets muddied with slapstick. This picture can be sold only to limited audiences this side of the Atlantic. It will most easily find a sale by promoting the presence in the cast of Mr. Sim, a rich, ripe actor who has won a U. S. following.