West 11 (Blu-ray)

Part of the Vintage Classics collection

Michael Winner’s breakthrough film, West 11 is based on the cult novel The Furnished Room by Laura del-Rio. Adapted for the screen by the prolific partnership of Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse (Billy Liar), West 11 stands for the postcode of an almost-unrecognisable Notting Hill, where the action is set. Winner’s foray into British Social realism, West 11 is an authentic portrayal of the grittier, darker side of West London in the 60s.

In Notting Hill’s jazz club, coffee bar and bedsit land of the early 1960s, Joe Beckett (Alfred Lynch) is a young unemployed misfit and drifter whose life takes a turn for the worse when he encounters Richard Dyce (Eric Portman), an ex-army officer. Dyce persuades Beckett it will be in his interests to bump off Dyce’s wealthy aunt for her money. Beckett travels to the old lady’s house on the South coast, and prepares to murder her but loses his nerve and in a struggle, accidentally pushes her down a flight of stairs, killing her anyway. After a witness reports him, Beckett returns to his digs and finds the police waiting for him. Dyce denies all involvement and Beckett turns himself in.