Rent Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky (2005)
3.8 of 5 from 63 ratings
2h 29min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Patrick Hamilton's trilogy of working class London life in the 1930s is captured movingly in this beautifully observed and faithful adaptation. In a world of smoky pubs and foggy lamplights, down-at-heel workers and forlorn lovers, the story focuses on The Midnight Bell, a bar off the Euston Road, and observes the impossibility of love between three protagonists. Bob, the pub's barman, is infatuated with penniless prostitute Jenny, believing that he can rescue her through his rapidly diminishing savings. Barmaid Ella, while attracting the attentions of an older, wealthier man, casts lovelorn glances at her colleague. Meanwhile, Jenny, forced onto the streets through poverty, has little time for such niceties, as she casts her flirtatious eyes about in search of custom. The drama observes the struggles of ordinary lives lived close to the poverty line, and the torments and drives of unrequited love, ambition and disappointment. - Actors:
- Bryan Dick, Sally Hawkins, Zoë Tapper, Jacqueline Tong, Tony Haygarth, Philip Davis, Neil Stuke, Susan Wooldridge, Ruth Sheen, Elisabeth Dermot-Walsh, Roger Frost, Kellie Shirley, Anthony O'Donnell, Richard O'Callaghan, Kathy Burke, Marcia Warren, Doreen Mantle, Michael Medwin, Sid Mitchell, Ryan Cartwright
- Directors:
- Simon Curtis
- Aka:
- Saman taivaan alla
- Studio:
- 2 Entertain
- Genres:
- Drama
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 04/11/2007
- Run Time:
- 149 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Stereo
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.78:1 / 16:9
- Colour:
- Colour
- Bonus:
- Photo gallery
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Reviews (1) of Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky
A Convincing Adaptation of the Novel - Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky review by CV
I was very pleased to see that the great novel I had read recently had been made into a film. The novel 'Twenty thousand Streets Under the Sky' is by Patrick Hamilton and is a tri-partite story of three unremarkable characters that belong to the underclass of 1930s London. (Euston Road, if I remember correctly) Their lives overlap in a pub where Bob, young and handsome, works alongside Ella, a plain barmaid, whose love for Bob is unrequited especially as he becomes infatuated with a beautiful prostitute that visits the pub. The novel is ideal for dramatic setting as the author of the novel just lets the characters speak for themselves without any description of their thought lives. These characters, representing members of the underclass in the 1930's depression are given sympathetic treatment by both the novelist and film director. The scenes and characters are exactly as I imagined them when reading the book, though Ella is quite attractive in the film: her personality certainly is in the book.
The film is shot in subdued colour and on location which lends authenticity to the period setting. One or two scenes are omitted as the novel is fairly long, one, as I remember, was Bob entertaining a child in the bar at Christmas which enhanced Ella's secret admiration of Bob as a possible future father. The novel is told with gentle respectful humour which the film may fall a little short of especially when one or two lighter scenes are omitted.
The film is dedicated adaptation of the book which you must read before or after the film!
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