Taking a look at the HOME cinema in Manchester listings, I discovered that in tribute to the late Cornerhouse and HOME contributor CP Lee, that a 35MM screening of this Hammer Noir was soon taking place. Having read praise for the title over a number of years, I got set to enter the city.
View on the film:
Filmed on the streets of Manchester, writer/ director Val Guest & Cash On Demand (1961-also reviewed) cinematographer Arthur Grant ignite a hellish landscape of a Film Noir atmosphere from brooding, depth of field wide-shots looking across the eerily silent Moors, where Martineau (played with a brittle urgency by Stanley Baker) finds a body dumped, leading to Kitchen Style dissolves and whip-pans being used by Guest to line the walls of Don Starling's safe house.
Given the challenge of finding the most wanted man in Hell, the screenplay by Guest sends Martineau round a bruising Film Noir tour of Manchester, as he searches for Starling in pubs where the locals know not to be a snitch to the police if they don't want any trouble, lines of crumbling houses where the tenets keep to themselves,and "two-up" backstreet gambling games being played in the city.
View on the film:
Filmed on the streets of Manchester, writer/ director Val Guest & Cash On Demand (1961-also reviewed) cinematographer Arthur Grant ignite a hellish landscape of a Film Noir atmosphere from brooding, depth of field wide-shots looking across the eerily silent Moors, where Martineau (played with a brittle urgency by Stanley Baker) finds a body dumped, leading to Kitchen Style dissolves and whip-pans being used by Guest to line the walls of Don Starling's safe house.
Given the challenge of finding the most wanted man in Hell, the screenplay by Guest sends Martineau round a bruising Film Noir tour of Manchester, as he searches for Starling in pubs where the locals know not to be a snitch to the police if they don't want any trouble, lines of crumbling houses where the tenets keep to themselves,and "two-up" backstreet gambling games being played in the city.