Pool of London

London’s Docklands, the 1950s: two seamen step ashore from The Dunbar and into the Pool of London. Dan MacDonald is a self-assured ladies’ man with a sideline in petty smuggling, while his friend Johnny Lambert – a shy, Jamaican sailor – arrives at port with nothing to declare. 

Before their brief period of shore leave is up, Dan becomes fatefully involved in a diamond heist, while Johnny begins an unlikely relationship with a London girl. 

Directed by Basil Dearden, an Ealing Studios regular, Pool of London was the first British-made film to depict an interracial relationship in the post-Windrush years. Earl Cameron makes a landmark appearance as Johnny – this fine debut performance would introduce Cameron as one of the first Black stars of British cinema.