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Hell Is A City [1959]
![Hell Is A City [1959]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XM2WW4DXL._SL160_.jpg)
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British low budget noir that just misses the mark
Review date: 2008-11-02 Rating: 6 out of 10
Baker, Whitelaw, Pleasance, some big names in a low budget attempt at gritty noir. The grit is supplied by the setting, Manchester, but this itself causes the film its biggest problems. Baker's accent wobbles all over the place, as it does for one or two other non-northern actors in the film. One of them, the villain of the piece, an old school friend of Baker's who went astray and is now a dangerous killer, doesn't have that problem at all, because he's an American and has clearly taken the sound advice not to even try the fairly tricky Manchunian lilt. Hmm, casting in the 1950s was a very peculiar art, as so many leads happened to be Americans playing British characters. Back then I suppose it seemed normal or acceptable at the cinema, but these days it looks and sounds downright peculiar.
So lets get to what's good about the movie - it is stylish to a degree, sharply played despite the accents, and pretty gritty, albeit in a slightly naive and contrived way. But it does create a reasonable minor noir atmosphere and tense cat and mouse moments. Some of the dialogue is good, and some of it a bit naive and cliched but it isn't that bad. The movie scores best on some of its location scenes, especially the tense finale where we get to see the main star of the film, the city of Manchester, splayed out in its hard but warm 'northernness'. This film does do well to connect the crime with the grime of a semi-notorious, semi-loved old heartland of the north. Definitely worth a look if you love the old Edgar Wallace type of B thriller, but do not expect a whole lot more.
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Reviews
AN EARLY FILM NOIRE....................................
Review date: 2008-09-25 Rating: 10 out of 10
My mother used to cringe at black and white films. How she would have reacted nowadays to the appreciative audience of such gems as "Hell Is A City" I shudder to think. Is it not Alex Baldwin who said that all the best films were made in black and white? I completely agree, though there is the odd exception.
Without the benefit of computer graphics and sophisticated special effects, here we have a fast moving police thriller. The wonderful Stanley Baker plays the lead supported by a cast of talented and experienced mega-stars. The film is violent for its time and the music is atmospheric and effective.
If you like these old gritty movies, you will love this one. It ought to be watched by any film buff if nothing more for than to see just how good a film could be made in those days without the frills of modern technology and it is a lesson in good acting. A splendid British attempt at cops and robbers.
I loved the old cars.
VIEW IT!
Baker tries to catch the starling on the roofs of Manchester
Review date: 2005-03-23 Rating: 10 out of 10
Set and filmed in 1960 in and around the city of Manchester, this is a great crime thriller from the early years of Hammer Films. It stars the late great Stanley Baker as Inspector Harry Martineau on the trail of vicious hoodlum Don Starling played by John Crawford. Also look out for Donald Pleasance and a young Billie Whitelaw as a husband and wife who act together again after appearing in the previous year's 'Flesh and the Fiends'.
The film contains some superb location scenes of the city as it then was, trying to revitalise after the German bombing campaign and the rationing depravations after the war. Baker is superb in the role of a gritty police inspector chasing a murderous thug across Manchester and the nearby moors, whilst attempting to come to terms with his fraught marriage to his lonely wife played by Maxine Audley.
Keep an eye out for Warren Mitchell of 'Death us do Part' fame as a travelling salesman and a fleeting appearance of Doris Speed (Annie Walker in Granada TVs Coronation Street) as a hospital sister.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Billie Whitelaw
Stanley Baker
Donald Pleasence
John Crawford
Creators:
Stanley Baker (Primary Contributor)
John Crawford (Primary Contributor)
Recording label: Cinema Club
Manufacturer: Cinema Club
EAN: 5014138301408
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, Black & White, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2005-04-04
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 92 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1960
Language: English (Original Language)