Violent Playground *** (1958, Stanley Baker, Peter Cushing, Anne Heywood, David McCallum) – Classic Movie Review 10,681

Director Basil Dearden’s 1958 black and white crime drama Violent Playground is a little-known, but quite well-done film from the British neo-realist school, with Liverpool part-time policeman and juvenile liaison officer Sergeant Truman (Stanley Baker) falling for attractive young Cathie (Anne Heywood), a working-class girl whose brother Johnny (David McCallum) is a dangerous arsonist.

Violent Playground is rather overlong seeming at 108 minutes, but James Kennaway’s intelligent original screenplay, the dedicated, gritty performances and Dearden’s tense direction just see it through the slight longueurs.

Baker is first rate in one of his quintessential performances; McCallum is very showy as the crazy rebel boy.

Also in the cast are Peter Cushing as the Priest, John Slater as Sergeant Walker, Clifford Evans as Heaven, Moultrie Kelsall as Superintendent, George A Cooper as Chief Inspector, Brona Boland, Fergal Boland, Michael Chow, Tsai Chin, Sean Lynch, Irene Arnold, Christopher Cooke, Gerrard Gibson, Freddie Starr [Fred Fowell], Oonagh Quinn, Robert Raglan, Sheila Raynor, Bernice Swanson and Jeremy Bulloch (uncredited) in his film debut as Pageboy at Hotel and Melvyn Hayes (uncredited) as Kid in Johnnie’s Gang, Stratford Johns (uncredited) as Police Constable.

It comes from The Rank Organisation.

It is shot on location in Liverpool and London, and at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England.

Stanley Baker and David McCallum acted together as brothers in the previous year’s Hell Drivers (1957).

Michael Chow appeared in three films with his elder sister Tsai Chin: Violent Playground, in which they play brother and sister, The Brides of Fu Manchu (1966) and You Only Live Twice (1967).

RIP Jeremy Bulloch, who died in hospital on 17 December 2020, aged 75, from health complications after living with Parkinson’s disease for many years. He is also in The Spy Who Loved Me as HMS Ranger Crewman and Octopussy as Smithers, and was Boba Fett in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,681

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com