A surprisingly tough,no-nonsense crime thriller for it's time,HELL IS A CITY (set in my hometown Manchester) has a fairly routine plot but has compensations with fast-moving direction by Val Guest,a decent script,a fine jazz score by Stanley Black,and most of all,first-class photography on actual Mancunian locations.This was something of a first for British crime thrillers for this period,which were mostly shot in dingy studio sets,but director Guest's decision to film many scenes outdoors,and in a provincial city as well(virtually all of this film's contemporaries were set in London,particularly Soho),is refreshing,fairly innovative and gives a sense of realism that is unusual but welcome,especially in this era(the late 50's -early 60's) of UK film-making.
Unfortunately,there are some compromises that mitigate against the film;one is the casting of American John Crawford(who appeared in several other British thrillers around this period)as the murderous villain which strains credibility somewhat;Crawford makes no attempt to hide his American accent,which makes his role as a native(as the script makes clear) hard to take;there are rather obvious domestic scenes of strife with Inspector Stanley Baker and spouse that drag the pace down somewhat(it would have been better simply to concentrate on the basic story)and seem irrelevant,and Guest falters when he makes some obvious attempts to imitate Hollywood film-noirs;he is better when he sticks to straightforward,semi-documentary realism.
The film features very few Mancunian actors (only John Comer,and Doris Speed,who very soon after began her stint as TV's most famous barmaid,Annie Walker,in CORONATION STREET);they are mostly from Yorkshire or Southern England,and Welshman Baker occasionally struggles with his Northern English accent. Never afraid to play unsympathetic,dislikable heroes,Baker is still good in the lead role,in his familiar virile,aggressive and uncompromising persona.This style of acting led the way out of the rather stuffy,RADA-accented manner that had held back British cinema for years into more a working-class,gritty and realistic era,and somewhat better films.
HELL IS A CITY has it's faults,but is valuable today as an unexpected social document of Manchester of the time,and has much more than a touch of class than other contemporary routine crime dramas,thanks to the reasons stated above.
Rating:6 and a half out of 10.
Unfortunately,there are some compromises that mitigate against the film;one is the casting of American John Crawford(who appeared in several other British thrillers around this period)as the murderous villain which strains credibility somewhat;Crawford makes no attempt to hide his American accent,which makes his role as a native(as the script makes clear) hard to take;there are rather obvious domestic scenes of strife with Inspector Stanley Baker and spouse that drag the pace down somewhat(it would have been better simply to concentrate on the basic story)and seem irrelevant,and Guest falters when he makes some obvious attempts to imitate Hollywood film-noirs;he is better when he sticks to straightforward,semi-documentary realism.
The film features very few Mancunian actors (only John Comer,and Doris Speed,who very soon after began her stint as TV's most famous barmaid,Annie Walker,in CORONATION STREET);they are mostly from Yorkshire or Southern England,and Welshman Baker occasionally struggles with his Northern English accent. Never afraid to play unsympathetic,dislikable heroes,Baker is still good in the lead role,in his familiar virile,aggressive and uncompromising persona.This style of acting led the way out of the rather stuffy,RADA-accented manner that had held back British cinema for years into more a working-class,gritty and realistic era,and somewhat better films.
HELL IS A CITY has it's faults,but is valuable today as an unexpected social document of Manchester of the time,and has much more than a touch of class than other contemporary routine crime dramas,thanks to the reasons stated above.
Rating:6 and a half out of 10.