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Category:    Home > Reviews > Frightened City

The Frightened City

 

Picture: B-     Sound: C     Extras: C-     Film: B-

 

 

Small films, even ones that are not commercially and critically received in overwhelming ways, can sometimes lead to bigger and better things.  The Frightened City (1961) offered Herbert Lom when he was still taken seriously as a dramatic character actor, which all changed with the Pink Panther films.  Sean Connery held a major supporting part here, one year before the James Bond films made him an international star.  Also interesting is the story of Leigh Vance, who co-wrote the original story, co-produced the film, and wrote its finalized screenplay.

 

Vance had finished a few feature films before, but his strongest contributions landed up being in TV, with unforgettable work on classic TV series including The Saint, The Avengers, Mission: Impossible and Mannix.  By the 1970s, he was also a producer of more huge hits like Cannon, Baretta and Switch, all which proves what a talented guy he was.  This film has some of the same smart, gritty elements he would bring to those shows.

 

Gangsters are running rampant in London, but a confident criminal genius of sorts (Lom) intends to bring them together “Goldfinger”-style and form a larger criminal enterprise.  This includes the enlistment of a higher class of thug (Connery), but he does not realize that the class part might get in the way of his plans.  Though NOT a Film Noir, this is a Gangster film that is more drama than Gangster, but it has its moments.  The dialogue is convincing, but even the fine performances cannot bring this material above much of what we have seen before.  Though no breakthrough, it is interesting to see these talents working together before they hit it big, giving their best efforts.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is in black and white and has more good moments picture wise than expected, even when the black is not as rich as is hoped for in scenes.  The grain is obvious, though Desmond Dickinson, B.S.C., is up to his high standards.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is average and likely smaller-sounding than the original optical sound presentation was in theaters.  The only extras are the trailer and some stills.

 

Anglo-Amalgamated was the producer of the film, having just survived the censorship fiasco about Michael Powell’s classic Peeping Tom a year earlier.  They were known as an exploitation company, but this is decent work versus the garbage we get today.  They also made their share of Horror films, like Horrors of the Black Museum (reviewed elsewhere on this site).  Director John Lemont pulls off a nice little piece of work here that is not a bad sit-though, if you think you might be in the mood to check it out.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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