ONCE A JOLLY SWAGMAN is a character drama about a young man who gives up his deadbeat factory job to become a motorbike racer instead. It's centred around the minor sport of Speedway and has some good on-track scenes of a sport we don't often we make it to the big screen. The story itself is rather light and straightforward, reminiscent a little of the later 'angry young man' movement but rather ahead of its time by a decade or so. Had it been made years later it might have done better. A decent cast makes this watchable, though, with a typically brooding Dirk Bogarde on protagonist duty, Bonar Colleano and Bill Owen as racing rivals, Sid James as the organiser, and James Hayter and Thora Hird as Bogarde's parents.
Review of Maniacs on Wheels
