West 11 (1963) – Nostalgia Central

Set in the “bed sitter belt” of London (the titular West 11), Joe Beckett (Alfred Lynch) – a renegade son of middle-class parents – feels nothing, cares for nothing, believes in nothing and leads an aimless existence.

He shares his Notting Hill bed-sitter with Ilsa (Kathleen Breck), an attractive but wayward young girl craving for love from anybody and everybody.

When Joe throws in his job at the tailor’s shop where he has been working for a few months, he is befriended by ex-army type, Richard Dyce (Eric Portman), who gains Joe’s confidence and then offers him a job: killing his wealthy maiden aunt who lives in a lonely house on the south coast and will leave all her money to Dyce as her only surviving relative.

For this, Joe will receive £10,000.

Joe thinks it over between strolls to the jazz cellar, but when Ilsa leaves him and his mother (Kathleen Harrison) dies, he returns to Dyce for a gun and instructions on how to kill Mildred Dyce (Marie Ney) – and not be found out.

When the police arrive to arrest him, he realises that he has found a new interest in life, and tells Ilsa – who has come back – that he too will return.

Joe Beckett
Alfred Lynch
Ilsa Barnes
Kathleen Breck
Richard Dyce
Eric Portman
Georgia
Diana Dors
Mrs Beckett
Kathleen Harrison
Mrs Hartley
Freda Jackson
Gash
Finlay Currie
Mildred Dyce
Marie Ney
Silent
Harold Lang
Jacko
Peter Reynolds
Larry
Sean Kelly
Father Hogan
Patrick Wymark
Father Dominic
Gerry Duggan
Speaker
Brian Wilde
Mr Royce
Allan McClelland
Geoffrey
Frederick Danner
Phyl
Francesca Annis
Diana
Dawn Beret

Director
Michael Winner