We Are the Lambeth Boys

We Are the Lambeth Boys attempted to deliver a positive portrait of the lives of ordinary teenagers, far from the usual violent 'teddy boy' stereotype. It was shot over six weeks in the summer of 1958 in and around the Ashford House, a youth club in the Oval area of South London. It follows a group of teenagers at work and in their leisure time, giving them space to express their frustrations and aspirations (this was made possible by the use, for the first time in a Free Cinema film, of synch-sound technology). The film is never so good as when it lets the camera move around the group or capture their faces in close-up, rather than providing facts and figures, or a sociological analysis. (Doc Alliance Films)