Woodyanders Review of Hell Is a City

Hell Is a City (1960)

A strong and surprisingly gritty British noir crime thriller

[8/10 · 23 September 2007]

Cunning, lethal, ruthless criminal Don Starling (excellently played by John Crawford) escapes from jail and returns to Manchester to perform a robbery. Rugged, no-nonsense, hot-tempered Inspector Harry Martineau (a superbly hard-boiled performance by Stanley Baker) is bound and determined to nab Starling. Things get sticky when Starling kills a 19-year-old girl during the heist and the manhunt becomes a much more deadly pursuit. Writer/director Val Guest keeps the pace rattling along at a brisk clip, maintains an uncompromisingly tough-edged tone throughout, and does an expert job of creating a seedy urban atmosphere. Stanley Black's rousing, swinging jazz score really hits the spot. Arthur Grant's crisp, handsome, agile black-and-white cinematography likewise impresses. The occasional outbursts of raw violence are shockingly brutal. The climactic rooftop chase between Starling and Martineau is genuinely tense and exciting. Baker and Crawford excel in the leads; they receive fine support from Donald Pleasence as irritable book maker Gus Hawkins, Maxine Audley as Martineau's fed-up, neglected, long-suffering wife Julia, Billie Whitelaw as Gus' trampy wife Chloe (she's also Starling's frightened former old flame), Vanda Godsell as sassy bar maid Lucretia "Lucky" Luske, Joseph Tomelty as feisty old duffer Furnisher Steele, and George A. Cooper as petty gambler Doug Savage. A highly atypical Hammer Studios production, this rough and hard-hitting crime thriller winner makes for completely absorbing and satisfying viewing.