The critic Richard Whitehall appreciated Bogarde’s ability to inject intense emotion into a scene: ‘There is no actor on the British screen who can put more guts into a love scene given half a chance, the scenes with Mai Zetterling in Desperate Moment, for instance.’ (14) His edgy dark portrayal of Tom Riley in The Blue Lamp made critics sit up and take notice of the young actor. The film also afforded him the new and rewarding experience of filming outdoors:

‘It was the first of what we would call today cinema vérité: the first true, on-location movies we had ever made. Other than the policeman’s flat everything else was done in Paddington Green police station and the White City dog-racing track. I had never in my life before had to act outdoors but then I realized this was how to do it.’ (McFarlane, 69)

The Blue Lamp became the highest grossing film in Britain in 1950, and it also won a BAFTA for best British film. (Vermilye, 140) Hunted (1952) and his intense portrayal of a felon on the run with little Jon Whiteley was another film he considered one of his best from that period.