A Boy, a Girl and a Bike (1949)

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The acting in this movie is really good.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

I try to be objective with my marks for the films I occasionally review on this website, but on this occasion my vote of 9 comes from the heart. The film came out in 1949, just ten years before I started cycling, but it evokes a bygone age,when the postwar roads were free of traffic and cycling was carefree (even if the industrial settings and living conditions portrayed in the film were grim). The film struck a further chord with me because like its hero I came from a posh background and my family frowned on me mixing with those common rough types. It's a gentle film of a long-lost age - even though it starts with what today what would be a road-rage incident - McCallum hoots aggressively at the club run as he motors along, only then for him to stall his car and to be gently mocked by the cyclists as they overtake him; today such an incident would provoke swearing if not physical contact.The race at the film's end is well-staged, though at a cyclists' filmshow some years ago the close-ups of the competitors against back projection provoked much mirth (but then comparable shots of horse-riders also look artificial in old films, with the riders bouncing up-and-down on saddles in the studio).Like RitaRisque in her preceding review, I too thought a young Diana Dors looked very nice, as did Honor Blackman. And the supporting cast is a delight for those of us who like to spot British character actors.

Quite a nice film about a long lost past which although sombre for those without much money, was socially rich and enjoyable. Pursuits were predominantly outdoors (no TV), and the Saturday night dances. Others have commented about Diana Dors in this film. I personally thought that the then 22 year old Honor Blackman was the belle of the film, with a passable local accent. The film has a somewhat rushed ending, with some plot lines not being resolved, while others are brought to fruition. For me, another ten minutes to better resolve the ending would have helped. This is a shame - perhaps the producers ran out of money or a key cast member had other commitments elsewhere?

Didn't Diana Dors look so nice before they dyed her hair and made her into some kind of English Monroe? She reminded me of a very young Lana Turner here. And John McCallum. Whoa, boy! Plenty of nice shots of him in those little shorts and bathers raised my rating of this up to a 9. This film isn't really "a" boy, "a" girl or "a" bike, it's many. Ada and her many admirers, Charlie and his Ginger, Susie and her Sam and David, vying for her affections.. There seemed to be a few minor plots going on before they struck the big one - Charlie being in debt and stealing a bike to cover it, naturally he steals one with unique brake wires that is easily identifiable, naturally David buys said bike and everything ends up pear-shaped - but it's definitely a lot of fun to watch!

It is always easy to make fun of fifties British films of this genre. If you have patience with it, this film has a lot of social and political messages to impart. The are not of any great relevance today, it is true, but at the time things and life were very different.It helps that the film was shot on location in Bath - the atmosphere helps enormously.