Boy and the Bridge, The (1959)

Believing his hard-drinking father (Liam Redmond) has killed a man and thinking the police will come looking for him to put him in a children’s home, nine-year-old Cockney boy Tommy Doyle (played by newcomer Ian Maclaine) runs away from his Bermondsey lodgings to seek sanctuary in a disused top-floor chamber in the ramparts of the north tower of London’s famous Tower Bridge.

To the boy, the bridge is his “dream castle” – a world of magic where his only companion is a seagull he names “Sammy”.

Tommy is careful not to be seen, but the maintenance staff (including a young Arthur Lowe) become aware of a strange “presence”. When Tommy prevents a woman from committing suicide, the newspapers follow up with a story that a spirit presides on the bridge.

For the first half hour, the little boy’s wanderings through London are enchanting. The photography is imaginative, and the characters he meets are full of humour. But suddenly, the magic vanishes, and the film becomes drawn out and rather dull while one waits for the end (which seems an eternity in coming).

The Boy and the Bridge was the official British entry to the Venice Film Festival in 1959. Ian Maclaine did not make any further films.

Tommy Doyle
Ian Maclaine
Pat Doyle
Liam Redmond
Tugboat Skipper
James Hayter
Bridge Master
Geoffrey Keen
Market Porter
Jack MacGowran
Bridge Mechanic
Bill Shine
Bridge Mechanic
Arthur Lowe
Tugboat Engineer
Norman MacOwan
Bridge Engineer
Jack Stewart
Tourist
Winifred Kingston
Evangelist
Royal Dano
Young Woman
Jocelyn Britton
Landlady
Rita Webb
Publican’s Wife
Chili Bouchier

Director
Kevin McClory