OMDB
Home Movies Series Search
OMDB

Built by Torkel Aannestad with Next.js Next.js and shadcn/ui shadcn/ui.

Data provided by TMDB.

GitHubSource code
Hell Is a City
Hell Is a City

Hell Is a City (1960)

66% User Rating
1h 38min
Thriller
Crime

"Murder money stained his hands...."

Set in Manchester, heartland of England's industrial north, Don Starling escapes from jail becoming England's most wanted man. Ruthless villain Starling together with his cronies engineered a robbery that resulted in the violent death of a young girl. Detective Inspector Martineau has been assigned to hunt him down and bring him in. From seedy barrooms, through gambling dens the trail leads to an explosive climax high on the rooftops of the city.

Val GuestDirector

Cast

View Cast & Crew
Stanley Baker

Stanley Baker

Insp. Harry Martineau

John Crawford

John Crawford

Don Starling

Donald Pleasence

Donald Pleasence

Gus Hawkins

Maxine Audley

Maxine Audley

Julia Martineau

Billie Whitelaw

Billie Whitelaw

Chloe Hawkins

Joseph Tomelty

Joseph Tomelty

Furnisher Steele

George A. Cooper

George A. Cooper

Doug Savage

Vanda Godsell

Vanda Godsell

Lucretia Luske

The Movie Database

Dickie Owen

Bragg

Alister Williamson

Alister Williamson

Sam

Lois Daine

Lois Daine

Cecily Wainwright

John Harvey

John Harvey

Fingerprint Officer

The Movie Database

Geoffrey Frederick

Det. Devery

The Movie Database

Charles Houston

Clogger Roach

The Movie Database

Joby Blanshard

Tawny Jakes

The Movie Database

Charles Morgan

Laurie Lovett

Peter Madden

Peter Madden

Bert Darwin

Warren Mitchell

Warren Mitchell

Commercial Traveller

Sarah Branch

Sarah Branch

Silver Steele

Russell Napier

Russell Napier

Superintendent

Philip Bond

Philip Bond

Headquarters PC (uncredited)

The Movie Database

Richard Coleman

Detective in Station (uncredited)

John Comer

John Comer

Plainclothes Police Driver (uncredited)

The Movie Database

Doris Speed

Older Sister in Hospital (uncredited)

Marianne Stone

Marianne Stone

(uncredited)

The Movie Database

Reg Thomason

Barman (uncredited)

Reviews (1)

All Reviews
John Chard
John Chard
Rating 90%

June 30, 2014

I don't play cards. I don't even touch coins. 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" are "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

Media

View All Media
Hell Is A City / Original Theatrical Trailer (1959)

Hell Is A City / Original Theatrical Trailer (1959)

Recommended

View All Recommended
The Day the Earth Caught Fire
iHostage
Black Dog
Black Site
Rodan
Vicious Fun
A Day to Die
A Dog Named Palma
God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya
Midnight
Trouble in Paradise
Shark Side of the Moon
Landscape in the Mist
Gone Mom: The Disappearance of Jennifer Dulos
Red Rooms
Apache Junction
Tokyo Drifter
Popeye the Slayer Man
Under the Hawthorn Tree
The Bodyguard from Beijing