Flame In The Streets (1961)

The best thing about the BBC's Summer of British Film is the scheduling of lost Brit classics during the daytime schedules, as opposed to re-runs of Columbo, 'made for TV' rubbish and cheap imported dramas. Long may it continue...but I'll not hold my breath.

One such gem was Flame In The Streets, a tale of race and racism in early 60s London. In fact, it's about racism on three levels - in the workplace, in the home and on the streets. And it all centres around Jacko Palmer (John Mills), a career-minded union leader, fighting to make his mark in the role - and fighting for the rights of black employees to be treated equally on the shopfloor.

But what's fine in the workplace isn't as fine in the home. His daughter Kathie (Sylvia Syms) is dating a black teacher (Peter Lincoln, played by Johnny Sekka) - and the two plan to marry. Her mother Nell (Brenda De Banzie) is outraged, fearing the good name of the family and airing just about every prejudice in the book - looking to Jacko for a solution to their impending 'shame'.

And trouble is brewing on the street too - with gangs of white teenagers stirring trouble with the West Indian community - building to a riot on Bonfire Night.

46 years on and Flame In The Streets still has an edge. It's obviously incredibly dated in some respects - more of a period piece than a a slice of realism - but it's an important film, daring to tackle racism at a time when it was accepted as the norm. And it's an incredibly balanced film, showing the prejudice, the people at the end of it and the people in the middle - in particular, those involved in mixed relationships.

The happy ending is something of a cop out and the riot seems to stop as soon as it starts, but that's minor criticism for a very important British movie. Typically it's not available on DVD - but with the attention the movie has received as part of the BBC's British film season, that could well change.