Boys in Brown

1949
Approved
1h 25m

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

309

YOUR RATING

Crime Drama

A slice of life in a British Borstal reform institution for young criminals.A slice of life in a British Borstal reform institution for young criminals.A slice of life in a British Borstal reform institution for young criminals.

Director
- Montgomery Tully
Writers
- Reginald Beckwith
- Montgomery Tully
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

309

YOUR RATING

Director
- Montgomery Tully
Writers
- Reginald Beckwith
- Montgomery Tully
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos7

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Made using J. Arthur Rank's "Independent Frame" production system (even though it was made by Gainsborough). The system proved to be a costly flop.

Quotes
Mr. Johnson: [Last lines] Won't they try to escape ?
Governor: Well, of course they'll try to escape, and why not? Aren't we all of us trying to escape from some prison of our own making ?
[Looking out of the window]
Governor: There is it Johnson, the wheat and the chaff.
Mr. Johnson: Yes sir. But the thing is, which is which ?
Governor: No, Johnson, the thing is to find out what is the chaff, and why.

Connections
Version of Boys in Brown (1947)

User reviews12

Review

Featured review

4/10

Borstal Boys

If you've ever wanted to see Dirk Bogarde in shorts then this is the film for you!! (Today's generation of young offenders would probably regard being made to wear short trousers cruel & unusual punishment in itself; and I still haven't decided yet who looks more grotesque in shorts, Alfie Bass in this or Roman Polanski in 'A Generation'!)

One of the final gasps, incredibly enough, of Gainsborough Pictures; and based, even more incredibly, on a play by Reginald Beckwith, 'Boys in Brown' is yet another stern warning to the youth of postwar austerity Britain to stick to the straight and narrow or face severe consequences.

Three of the cast were promptly reunited in 'The Blue Lamp'; Jack Warner & Jimmy Hanley as coppers, Bogarde as the zoot-suited spiv taught an even harsher lesson that crime is a mug's game.