Un homme pour le bagne

This is a wonderful example of how worldly some british films can seem, while maintaining their local flavor. I believe that this film is very appropriately set in Manchester, anyone having been to Manchester will tell you its quite a tough place.

50s British entertainment was heavily influenced by Hollywood and continued to be influenced especially on TV until the late 70s, when things all started to get a bit colorless. This movie was made in a time when entertainment came first and the needs of the audience and hence a box office return, came before the politically correct requirements of the day. Having said that I have to say I'm VERY glad that you don't see many characters quite as sorry as Martineau's repressed housebound wife these days!

For those who are not familiar with director Val Guest - check out his other movies. He was a director who knew exactly what he was doing.

In 2024 you can take a chance with a brand new film release with augmented visuals and made by a woke committee, or you can instead choose a safe bet of a film that is still highly rated more than sixty years past its release date.

While on the face of it this may seem like yet another UK police procedural, this one was directed by Val Guest who also directed Jigsaw, The Day The Earth Caught Fire and Quatermass. That tells you all you need to know, or maybe what you should know about his output. This is also a Hammer movie, albeit without the monsters.

The story concerns a criminal on the run who carries out a robbery resulting in the murder of a girl and the detective who is on his tail. Unlike the majority of these films this one takes place in Manchester for a change, probably the only time you will see Donald Pleasance with a Manc accent. The pacing of the film is such that a minute isn't wasted and it entertains throughout. There is a surprising level of violence throughout and the final third is exciting, however the film does not end on a triumphalist note unlike most American police procedurals. The only negative is the depiction of the detectives unhappy family life, with a wife who doesn't want kids when he does and constantly complains about his absence at work. This may give the character some depth but it doesn't add anything to the story of the pursuit. The major plus of this film however is that I caught it for free on Channel 4's streaming service which seems to have a few hidden gems for fans of real cinema. Recommended.

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

Hammer Films, best known for horror movies, stepped into film noir with Val Guest's "Hell Is a City". Stanley Baker plays a police inspector who suspects that an escaped criminal will head for Manchester to collect some loot. The dreary look of the city is as much a character as any of the actors. The post-war British film industry wasn't generally known for these sorts of movies, but they did an excellent job here. The chase at the end of the movie is impressive but I thought that the most effective scene was the whole sequence where the criminal hides in the woman's house.

I've liked every film noir that I've seen, but HIAC has to be one of the best. Baker's forceful performance as the hardened inspector is the epitome of acting. I recommend the movie.

The rest of the cast includes Donald Pleasance (Dr. Loomis in the "Halloween" franchise), Billie Whitelaw (the nanny in "The Omen") and Joseph Tomelty (the father of Sting's ex-wife).

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.