We Are the Lambeth Boys

This 1950s documentary follows the daily lives of a handful of young people who are probably between 16-18 years of age, and already hard at work at menial jobs by day to afford their fish and chips for supper.

Much is made of the constructive activities they do at the youth club - some sort of primitive YMCA meets the local dance hall - that apparently keeps them away from booze, drugs and crime but not from copious amounts of cigarettes. I found it interesting how freely they were allowed to smoke in an atmosphere that attempted to cultivate their minds with sports, drawing, sewing, intelligent group discussion and a nightly chance to swing dance.

Some of this was surely staged in an attempt to show "the kids are alright" but it also speaks volumes about the classism and prejudice against the working class in 1950s Britain that this film had to be made at all.

Worth a second viewing or more.