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The Gorbals Story (1950)

Film details

Synopsis

A successful artist recalls his life in the tenements of the Glasgow slums. In flashback his recalls the events and charaters he shared with in a slum tenement building.

Johnnie, a newspaper boy who wishes to be an artist, shares the tenement with the good-natured Peggy, the lazy Mutrie and his long-suffering wife. Others in the building include Magadelene, a waitress, who agrees to marry the Asian, Ahmed; the landlady Mrs Gilmour; and Francis Porter whose wife is dying. Johnnie is in love with Nora Reilly, another tenant, but her father threatens and beats up Johnnie and he leaves the building to seek solace in the dance halls. Meanwhile, Mutrie discovers that he has won the football pools if only he had posted them. The neighbourhood comes round to rejoice but he tells them the truth. He then goes on a drinking spree with Hector and they end up in a barroom brawl. Having failed to find love, Johnnie returns home and ties to seek consolation from Peggy, but she locks herself in her room. Johnnie wrecks the communal room and leaves determined to build a better future for himself.

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