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
