Hell Is a City

1960
1h 33m

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

1.5K

YOUR RATING

In Britain, a Manchester police inspector becomes obsessed with capturing a criminal who escapes from prison.

Play trailer2:24

1 Video

18 Photos

Crime Thriller

In Britain, a Manchester police inspector becomes obsessed with capturing a criminal who escapes from prison.In Britain, a Manchester police inspector becomes obsessed with capturing a criminal who escapes from prison.In Britain, a Manchester police inspector becomes obsessed with capturing a criminal who escapes from prison.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

1.5K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Awards
- 2 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 2:24

Trailer

Photos18

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The coin-tossing game (known as "two-up") was notorious for deceiving naive players. Such people assume the three outcomes, two heads, two tails, and a head-and-a-tail, to have equal likelihood, 33%. In fact a head-and-a-tail has 50% probability, and the others have 25%.

Goofs
The dead girl on the moors appears to blink but in fact she doesn't and it is her hair blowing in front of her eyes which causes this illusion.

Quotes
Inspector Martineau: You on or off duty?
Devery: I'm just going off.
Inspector Martineau: Come on, I'll buy you a drink.
Devery: Well it's very nice of you, but I'm afraid...
Inspector Martineau: Teach her to wait. That's one thing a policeman's girl must always learn.

Crazy credits
"The production of this film was greatly assisted by the full cooperation of the Chief Constable and the members of the Manchester City Police Force, for which the producers wish to express their thanks." (opening credit)

Connections
Featured in Charters & Caldicott: Not Cricket (1985)

User reviews34

Review

Featured review

9/10

excellent ahead of its time Brit-noir

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.