Waterloo Road (1945)
Directed by Sidney Gilliat

Film Review

Waterloo Road was the third in a loose trilogy of low key wartime films directed by Sidney Gilliat and produced by Edward Black for Gainsborough Pictures.  It followed Millions Like Us (1944) and Two Thousand Women (1944). Gilliat would go on to achieve greater success through his fruitful partnership with Frank Launder, with such films as The Rake's Progress (1945), The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953) and The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954).

As well as being a poignant, well-scripted melodrama, convincingly played by John Mills, Alastair Sim and Stewart Granger, the film offers a realistic picture of how life was in London at the time of the Blitz.  What is perhaps most surprising for anyone watching the film today is how unperturbed everyone in the film is by the wartime drama they are living through.  The mood of quite resignation and acceptance of the daily reality of air raid sirens and bombings is hard to comprehend and provides an insight into the famous Blitz spirit that helped to see Britain through the war.  Waterlood Road is an engaging little film which deserves much wider recognition that it currently enjoys. More than just a propaganda piece, it serves as a testimony to the resilience of the British during their darkest hour.

Film Synopsis

In 1940, towards the start of the Second World War, Jim Colter is away doing his bit in the fight against Hitler whilst his wife Tillie stays at home in London with his mother and sisters, Ruby and Vera.  With her husband away, Tillie begins a secret affair with Ted Purvis, a womanising spiv who resorts to cunning to avoid being called up.  When Jim receives a letter from Ruby informing him of his wife's infidelity he deserts from the army and heads back to London, to his home in Waterloo Road.  Dodging the military police, Jim goes chasing after Tillie, who is now completely smitten with Ted, not realising that he has already broken the hearts of many other women...