Hell Is A City
1959
Detective Inspector Martineau prepares himself for action when he hears of the jailbreak of the notorious thief Don Starling. When a robbery goes seriously wrong, Martineau will stop at nothing to make sure that Starling is caught... Read more
| Starring | Stanley Baker, John Crawford, Billie Whitelaw, Donald Pleasence |
|---|---|
| Director | Val Guest |
| Genres | Drama |
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Hell Is A City
Detective Inspector Martineau prepares himself for action when he hears of the jailbreak of the notorious thief Don Starling. When a robbery goes seriously wrong, Martineau will stop at nothing to make sure that Starling is caught...
| Starring | Stanley Baker, John Crawford, Billie Whitelaw, Donald Pleasence |
|---|---|
| Director | Val Guest |
| Studio | CINEMA CLUB |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 32 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 04 Apr 2005 Production year: 1959 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (3)
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Made when Hammer wasn't just a house of horror, this brisk crime thriller was filmed on location in Manchester. Studio executives were so worried that the locals would resent this portrait of their city that Mancunian screenings were prefaced by a speech from a neighbourhood bobby assuring all that the film-makers didn't really equate their home with the inferno. Stanley Baker bristles with northern grit as the inspector out to nab the escaped convict whose crimes include murder and robbing bookie Donald Pleasence. Director Val Guest demonstrates a flair for docudramatic realism and no-nonsense pacing that is at odds with his earlier screenplay writing collaborations on Will Hay films.
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A persuasively sweaty crime thriller set in Manchester, written and directed by the once reliable Guest (from a novel... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Manchester's Not That Bad!
Trademark gritty performance by Stanley Baker as a hard-nosed, chain smoking cop. Although at times out-moded and featuring an unconvincing escaped convict - complete with mid-Atlantic twang - I really enjoyed this early Hammer offering. Great supporting cast (spot Corrie's Doris Speed as a grumpy matron) and the superb location shots of early sixties Manchester all add to make make this an enjoyable 92 mins - particularly for those who like to dip into the back catalogue.
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Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
Hell in a sitting.
Two stars and not one because Stanley Baker was a Welshman and a bloody good actor. But this cliched stinker is not his best work. It tries to imitate (and fails) the gritty US detective film noir genre. It just doesn't work in Manchester. And Stan's stick-on Northern accent is, frankly, terrible. A mundane cops and robbers flick dressed up as something it could never be. Hell in a sitting.
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Detective Inspector Martineau prepares himself for action when he hears of the jailbreak of the notorious thief Don Starling. When a robbery goes seriously wrong, Martineau will stop at nothing to ... -