Hell Is a City

Out of Hammer Films, Hell is a City is directed by Val Guest, who also adapts the screenplay from Maurice Proctor's novel of the same name. It stars Stanley Baker, John Crawford, Billie Whitelaw, Maxine Audley, Donald Pleasence, Vanda Godsell, Joseph Tomelty and George A. Cooper. Music is by Stanley Black and cinematography in HammerScope is by Arthur Grant.

When violent criminal Don Starling (Crawford) escapes from prison, Manchester cop Inspector Harry Martineau (Baker) correctly assumes he is on his way back to the area to collect some hidden loot from a previous job. Sure enough a serious crime rocks the city and all roads lead to Starling, but what price will Martineau pay to nail a man whose mere name strikes fear into the locals?

Has some bastard been passing me snide money?

British crime drama at its best, absorbing as a suspense tale, clinically unflinching in its characterisations and directed with a deft hand by the multi talented Val Guest. Hell is a City is without question a very British movie, but in the same way that greats like Brighton Rock and They made Me A Fugitive were Britannia Rule Grimarannia, so it be here where Guest makes the most of Manchester's gloomy locales to pump bad blood into the edgy narrative. It's a Manchester of creaky terraced houses, working class bars, soiled streets and the unforgiving Moors. The latter of which a visual beauty to the eye, but home of misery both in fact and fiction.

A Starling in the Attic.

Tale unfolds as a sort of warts and all semi-documentary police procedural. Harry Martineau is the lead man, but this is no cliché addled copper, he is a tough bastard who is not adverse to using strong arm and dishonest tactics to get results. He's a hero, of sorts, but the happiness he craves outside of his work, at home, is moving further away from him. He's not alone, either, for many of the vivid characters on show here are either life's losers, illicit gamblers, unfaithful wives, lonely hearts, or cheaters and beaters, and that's before we get to Crawford's villain. Don Starling infects everyone with his evil stink, a robber, a rapist and a murderer, he may not look much physically in Crawford's shoes, but his name, voice and mere appearance has all but Martineau in a cold sweat.

If a man ain't got kids he's still fair game!

The script is devoid of pointless filler and no scene is wasted, there's an air of realism throughout. Sure there's a little leap of faith to be taken at times, but nothing that remotely could hurt the movie. The performances are from the better end of the scale, with Baker excelling as a stoic, but lonely man of the force, and Whitelaw and Godsell impressively force themselves up above the parapet to be rightly noticed in a movie predominantly beefed by machismo. Could Don Starling have been played by a better actor? Yes of course. Or just have been played by someone more menacing in appearance (like Baker in his villain roles for instance)? Again, yes of course. But the more you watch the more you will see that it's a frightening portrayal because it's very human, just like that given to Harry Martineau.

Some scenes shock and distress, others hold you and enthral, Hell is a City is one hell of a film and highly recommended to crime and noir fans. 9/10

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.

This is a very competent action crime film with an excellent cast and very atmospheric photography - the Northern industrial scenes are almost surreal. Stanley "Could Have Been James Bond" Baker is on great form with a good supporting cast. The script is tight and fast paced with good lighting/cinematography. One of those films to watch late at night and stay up to find out what happens in the end. The treatment of women is typical of 1960's Britain - it's a period piece and the attitude/demeanour of men, given that many went through the Second World War, is a notable contrast with today's society. My only aside is that the opening/closing credits inappropriately reminded me of Police Squad...

I watched Hell is a City on DVD again the other day and was struck by how fresh and undated the story and acting still appears. It was a breakout Brit film for 1959/60- with its semi-documentary approach to police procedure,meshed with a tough on women approach and attempt to show relationships that don't have happy endings. On the DVD there is an alternate ending shown, which the director Val Guest claims to have no knowledge of at all! It's much weaker i think than Guest's own choice of ending. Stanley Baker is excellent; successfully showing all dimensions to an Inspector's working/personal life; Billie Whitelaw got nominated that year with the BAA for in the Newcomer category and deservedly so. All the support cast flesh out their characters' quirks very well. Actual location shooting (in this case-Manchester) was still quite unusual and there is a world of difference between this and a studio based crime thriller of maybe 10 years before.

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.