This film is part of Rentals
Hell Is a City
Punchy crime thriller with a realist streak as Stanley Baker pursues a fugitive through the streets of Manchester.
Police drama 1959 96 mins
Director: Val Guest
Overview
Stanley Baker stars as world weary DI Harry Martineau, taken to pounding the streets of Manchester in search of an escaped convict, while at the same time trying to avert his messy personal life from unravelling.
Produced by Hammer Films and directed by Val Guest, Hell is a City is an essential British crime film from the period, endowed with a fine cast of character actors from Donald Pleasance to Billie Whitelaw and Warren Mitchell. With its gritty characterisation of Martineau as a flawed and emotional man, and authentic location work that ranges from the mean streets of Manchester to the Yorkshire Moors, Hell is a City is a key work of British realism that also happens to be a gripping crime film.
Contains mild violence, language and sex referencesAccessibility
Related
Police drama
The Wicker Man The Wicker Man
Horror 1973 88 mins Director: Robin Hardy
Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward star in the folk horror classic about a policemen investigating an island given over to paganism.
Se7en Se7en
Crime 1995 127 mins Director: David Fincher
David Fincher's breakthrough film is a disturbing and visceral thriller starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt as detectives hunting down a meticulous serial killer.
The Blue Lamp The Blue Lamp
Police drama 1949 85 mins Director: Basil Dearden
Dirk Bogarde stars as a loose-cannon crook with Dixon of Dock Green (Jack Warner) on his tail, in the classic Ealing policier.
The Riverside Murder The Riverside Murder
Thriller 1935 65 mins Director: Albert Parker
Ingeniously plotted and twisting whodunit that leaves Alastair Sim baffled as to the identity of the killer.
Loot Loot
Comedy 1970 102 mins Director: Silvio Narizzano
Silvio Narizzano adapts Joe Orton’s extraordinarily funny satire on police corruption and the conventions of detective fiction.
Wolcott Part 1 Wolcott Part 1
Police drama 1981 50 mins Director: Colin Bucksey
The gritty and ground-breaking drama debuted Britain’s first black TV cop, with George William Harris as the CID officer embroiled in a drug war.
Closed Captions
All in Good Time All in Good Time
Comedy 2011 94 mins Director: Nigel Cole
A pair of newlyweds endure a honeymoon staying with the groom's parents in a comedy from East Is East writer Ayub Khan-Din.
Billy Liar Billy Liar
Comedy 1963 98 mins Silent Director: John Schlesinger
Tom Courtenay is the clerk whose overactive fantasies compensate for a dull provincial life, in this classic film from the British New Wave.
Birthright Birthright
Drama 1938 74 mins Silent Director: Oscar Micheaux
Oscar Micheaux directs the story of a Harvard graduate whose attempts to establish a rural school runs into opposition from both races.
Blood of Jesus Blood of Jesus
Drama 1941 56 mins Director: Spencer Williams
Spencer Williams feverish melodrama about a woman’s flirtation with Satan was independently produced out of Texas with an amateur cast and a budget of $5,000.
Bronco Bullfrog Bronco Bullfrog
Drama 1969 87 mins Director: Barney Platts-Mills
A fascinating record of 1960s suedehead youth culture which is largely improvised by a non-professional cast of teenagers from east London
Comrades Comrades
Historical drama 1987 182 mins Director: Bill Douglas
Bill Douglas' epic story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, six Dorset labourers deported to Australia in the 1830s for forming a trade union.
Featuring Stanley Baker
The Tell-Tale Heart The Tell-Tale Heart
Drama 1953 21 mins Director: J.B. Williams
Stanley Baker enacts the classic Edgar Allan Poe story in this chilling short film, only recently rediscovered after being lost for 50 years.
Directed by Val Guest
Expresso Bongo Expresso Bongo
Drama 1960 111 mins Director: Val Guest
Val Guest's 1959 London-shot Brit Beat classic charts the fortunes of aspiring musician Bert Rudge (Cliff Richard)
Mr. Drake's Duck Mr. Drake's Duck
Comedy 1951 81 mins Director: Val Guest
The Drakes' dream of making an old Sussex farm successful comes to a halt after one of their ducks lays a radioactive egg
80,000 Suspects 80,000 Suspects
Medical drama 1963 109 mins Director: Val Guest
A race-against-time thriller about a smallpox outbreak that shatters the serenity of idyllic Bath.
New
First Love First Love
Comedy 2019 108 mins Director: Takashi Miike
A terminally-ill boxer, a runaway call girl, a double-crossing drugs heist and a gang war; Takashi Miike doesn’t do things by halves.
The Peanut Butter Falcon The Peanut Butter Falcon
Comedy 2019 97 mins Director: Michael Schwartz
Effortlessly charming buddy movie about a young man with Downs Syndrome (Zack Gottsagen) in pursuit of his dreams, with Shia LaBeouf.
Official Secrets Official Secrets
Thriller 2018 112 mins Director: Gavin Hood
Gripping political thriller with Keira Knightley as the intelligence officer who discovers a plot to rig a UN vote on the eve of the Iraq war.
Scandal Scandal
Historical drama 1989 114 mins Director: Michael Caton-Jones
A fictionalised account of the 1963 ‘Profumo Affair’ that rocked the government of British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Starring John Hurt, Joanne Whalley, Bridget Fonda, Ian McKellen and Leslie Phillips.
End of the Century End of the Century
Romance 2019 84 mins Director: Lucio Castro
A chance encounter reconnects two men in this heart-breaking lament on love, lust and missed opportunities.
Chained for Life Chained for Life
Drama 2018 91 mins Director: Aaron Schimberg
Made by and starring disfigured people, Aaron Schimberg’s dextrous, darkly comedic film-within-a-film makes you think about cinematic representation without offering simple resolutions.