ST. MARTIN'S LANE aka Sidewalks Of London (1938) Charles Laughton & Vivian Leigh | Comedy | B&W

St. Martin's Lane, also known as Sidewalks Of London After Dark, and Partners of the Night, is a 1938 British comedy drama starring Charles Laughton as a busker or street entertainer who teams up with a talented pickpocket, played by Vivian Leigh. The film co-stars Rex Harrison and Tyrone Guthrie in a rare acting appearance. It was produced by Mayflower Pictures Corporation.

SYNOPSIS
Pickpocket Libby gets support from street performer Charles, and her dancing leads to her invitation to theater patron Harley's party which in turn launches Libby's stage career while Charles keeps on struggling in the streets.

Charles Staggers is a London street performer, or busker, with his partners, Arthur Smith and Gentry.

He protects Liberty, known as Libby, a runaway and pickpocket, when she steals a gold cigarette case from successful song writer Harley Prentiss. He takes her into their troupe, making their trio into a quartet.

Libby attracts the attention of Prentiss and his wealthy friends, who can give her a life and career away from the streets. When she leaves, cruelly rejecting Charles's marriage proposal, he doesn't want to go on with the act anymore, and becomes an alcoholic. Libby's career, however, is a big success; she is offered a Hollywood contract.

CAST & CREW
Charles Laughton as Charles Staggers
Vivien Leigh as Liberty (Libby)
Rex Harrison as Harley Prentiss
Larry Adler as Constantine
Tyrone Guthrie as Gentry
Gus McNaughton as Arthur Smith
Edward Lexy as Mr. Such
Maire O'Neill as Mrs. Such
Helen Haye as Selina
Cyril Smith as Black Face

Directed by Tim Whelan
Written by Bartlett Cormack, Clemence Dane, Charles Laughton, Erich Pommer, Tim Whelan
Produced by Erich Pommer
Cinematography Jules Kruger
Edited by Robert Hamer, Hugh Stewart
Music by Arthur Johnston, Jack Beaver
Production company Mayflower Pictures
Distributed by Paramount Pictures (US)
Release dates 18 October 1938 (UK), 15 February 1940 (US)
Running time 85 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English

NOTES
According to Vivien Leigh's biographer Alexander Walker, Laughton and Vivien Leigh did not get along while working together. Walker wrote that when an attempt was made to obtain Leigh's services for a film version of Cyrano de Bergerac, Laughton stated that she would have to dye her hair blonde. Leigh asked for a blonde wig, but Laughton insisted she dye her hair. The discussions fell through and Leigh felt slighted. A decade later she did dye her hair blonde playing Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire, both on the stage in 1949 and in the 1951 film version.

When Leigh was approached to make Sidewalks of London, she did not want to work with Laughton and she felt no attachment to the role. Nevertheless, she was persuaded otherwise. In Alexander Walker's biography of Leigh, Larry Adler is quoted as saying that Leigh was difficult to work with. He said, "She didn't like Charles and he didn't like her. But he was much more professional. One weekend there were a few close-ups of Vivien to be done outside a theater and Charles, who invariably went down to the country with Elsa [Lanchester] at weekends, stayed up in town to 'feed' Vivien lines from behind the camera. I doubt if she'd have done as much for him. [Laurence] Olivier would show up on the set and they'd disappear into her dressing-room and it was quite a business to get her back to work." Olivier would show up on the days that Leigh was to shoot love scenes with the handsome Rex Harrison.

The film was adapted into the stage musical Busker Alley with songs by the Sherman Brothers. After several false starts with Tommy Tune as director and starring Tune and Melissa Errico, the musical had debuted at the York Theatre in New York on 13 December 2006 starring Jim Dale and Glenn Close. A CD which recreated this one-night-only performance was released by Jay Records in 2007.