Pretty Good

Beautiful, moving film.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This 'Hammer Films' production is still comfortable viewing, even now (2017), largely because of the familiar cast and memorable outdoors scenery. It also helps that the rapid-fire screenplay keeps us moving along with the plot at a brisk and exciting pace. There's also lots going on to pay attention to besides the main cop pursuit.Inspector Martineau (Stanley Baker) marches through the plot leaving his neglected wife, Julia (Maxine Audley) behind. (Despite a rather significant part in the story and being an actress of some renown, she isn't on the list of credits. I have no idea why.)American actor John Crawford plays villain Don Starling and is convincing as the hardened prison escapee trying to round up his swag while avoiding the cops.There are familiar faces aplenty for those 'spotters' among us... and even a turn from an unrecognizable Warren Mitchell (In Sickness and in Health) as a traveling salesman who comes across a dead body. (If you look carefully you can see the victim blink when she's discovered.)A busy Donald Pleasance found time to squeeze in this project with nearly 20 other film and TV commitments in 1960! He plays a bookie with a heart... and a cheating wife (Billie Whitelaw).Sarah Branch (Who?) plays a beautiful deaf and dumb girl innocently caught in the crossfire of crime. And I must say that my only real peeve about this movie is that she never got together with the young detective Devery (Geoffrey Frederick), who comes to interview her. There were obvious sparks going on here yet the viewer is left hanging! Boo!The story is actually a rather complex one, but basically, Starling escapes from jail and teams up with his old partners in crime. Inspector Martineau reckons he knows what the villain is gonna do next so he races off to Manchester to see if his hunch pays off. It does of course as Starling beats it back to the scene of the crime to pick up some stashed jewelry. He and his gang also pull off a robbery which nets them a lot of cash but results in a murder. The body is dumped on the Manchester moors but even that doesn't go according to plan...I suspect that director (and writer) Val Guest was paying his respects to the American 'noir' films of the 1940s here. Hard boiled cops and robbers, fancy dames and dark sleazy surroundings... and it's filmed in black and white!Get yourself over to YouTube and find out for yourself. There's a great copy there in full wide-screen.

HELL IS A CITY - 1960 Hammer films is best known for horror and vampire type fare. But they did produce the odd crime and noir before the swing to the more profitable blood- letting films.Stanley Baker headlines here, as a tough as nails, no nonsense, Detective with the Manchester Police Service. Baker has just been informed that a man, John Crawford, a gangster Baker had sent up the river has escaped from prison. The swine had killed a guard during the escape.Needless to say Crawford heads back to Manchester. He wants to pick up a stash of jewels he has hidden from a previous robbery. He also wants to pull another job to get some readies to blow the country with. A new life somewhere else seems like the ticket.Crawford makes contact with several of his old gang about a job he has figured. They are going to hit a race track odds makers, Donald Pleasence's bag of cash. Crawford knows about this because he used to bed Pleasence's new wife, Billie Whitelaw.The gang pull the robbery but of course they end up killing the young girl carrying the cash. The Police are quickly on the case and pull in all the usual suspects. A little bit of heavy leaning, soon has the Police onto all the "proper" people. Crawford is forced to go to ground as his possible hideouts dry up.This leads to a great chase over the various rooftops and ends with a full-fledged, knockdown, drag out, knuckle exchange on said rooftops. Crawford is corralled and is soon on death row.This is a very good crime/noir film with top work from the entire cast and crew. Director Val Guest hits all the marks squarely in this one. This one has it all, superb b/w photography, good acting, top jazzy score and more than enough violence to go around.A keeper in anyone's book!

Hammer studios are, of course, best known for their horror films; but early on in the studio's history, there were a number of noir style films produced; and while this is one of the later efforts, it's surely one of the best! The film is clearly intended to mimic the American film noir being produced en mass during the fifties; although the film does retain an aura of Britishness which is achieved through the locations and strong accents of most of the lead characters. The film is suitably dark, though not as dark as many of its American counterparts. The plot focuses on a criminal that has escaped from jail after committing a robbery that went wrong. Inspector Harry Martineau, who happened to have gone to school with the criminal, guesses that he will return home to Manchester in order to pick up his share from the job. The criminal does return to Manchester and ends up with the inspector on his tail as he moves through the underworld, trying to find a place to hide.Writer-director Val Guest (who previously directed a handful of Hammer's earliest horror films) spins an interesting story that remains intriguing throughout. The dialogue is surprisingly witty at times, and the characters are 'cool' enough to rival the films that this one is trying to imitate. There's more to the plot than just what is immediately going on, and the inspector's personal life is one of the main sub-plots. This thread is somewhat well expanded; although it has to be said that some other areas of the plot do not go as far as they could; although at only ninety minutes, there was obviously only so much that could be squeezed in. The film moves forward well, although at times it is a little silly; a plot that hinges on the idea of nobody looking at their hands is somewhat far fetched. The cast is strong, with Stanley Baker and John Crawford taking the lead roles and doing well with them; there's also a small appearance for the great Donald Pleasance. Overall, Hell is a City is an excellent British noir, and well worth a look.

No other film of this period gives such a clear indication of the attempt of British crime thrillers to become more exciting.The introduction of John Crawford as the American bad guy and one time buddy of Stanley Baker is enthralling to watch and can seem slightly odd and out of place. The opening sequences are reminiscent of British TV show 'Z Cars' and were later spoofed in Naked Gun (though not as a direct result of this).Donald Pleasance is very reliable as the Jewellry Shop owner who has much to reveal, while Baker himself plays another tough cop as he did in Blind Date (1959) and Violent Playground (1958) - the latter was also directed by Val Guest.Look out for the climactic sequences - gripping stuff and still ever so British.