From The Rank Organisation
Directed by J. Lee Thompson
Starring
Hayley Mills
Horst Buchholz
John Mills
Yvonne Mitchell
Megs Jenkins
Anthony Dawson
Michael Anderson Jr.
I had not seen this movie before a week ago. I've always known about it and always wanted to see it but apparently not badly enough. It was my very good fortune to have finally caught up with it and I liked it so much that I have watched it a second time. I'm leaving it on the DVR for awhile longer just in case I get the itch again.
Despite the fact that it is a well-told, emotionally-involving, tidy little crime drama, its lasting fame, if you will, comes from the fact that it introduced Hayley Mills to her father's profession. It is also the first English-language film for handsome German actor, Horst Buchholz. This paragraph says it all for me. I should go now. The rest is simply filler.
Hayley came to the film in an unusual way. Director Thompson was at John Mills's home for dinner to discuss some things about the script. Mills had already come aboard to play the police superintendent. The part of the 11-year old kid was supposed to be played by a boy who had yet to be hired. Thompson apparently took a look at the outgoing, tomboyish Hayley and said hmmmm. She would not be top-billed but she was the star.
Gillie (Hayley) lives in the hardscrabble Tiger Bay area of Cardiff where she has too little supervision and too much time on her hands, a lot of imagination along with a sense of adventure and a nose for trouble. She has a passion for toy guns and longs to be accepted by her peers. It's clear she is smart beyond her years, a charmer when she wants to be and an inveterate liar. Of course, as with all habitual liars, they can't and shouldn't be trusted which makes life rather complicated for Gillie and those in her orbit.
Broni (Buchholz), a cargo ship hand, arrives and is anxious to see his girlfriend. He does not know the exact location of her flat and when he runs into Gillie, he asks her how to find the flat. Gillie says she lives in the same building and agrees to escort him. It's immediately apparent that Gillie has a schoolgirl crush on the handsome Polish man.
When Broni surprises his girl Anya (Mitchell), he is the one who gets surprised. He determines by the nice things she has that she is seeing someone else. The high-strung Broni accuses her of being disloyal and slaps her hard. When she admits it he gets so angry that she opens up a drawer and grabs a gun. We're not sure whether she plans to shoot him or simply scare him but he wrestles the gun away and pumps five bullets in her.
What he doesn't know is that Gillie has been watching the entire ruckus through a mail slot in the door. She hides as Broni prepares to leave and watches him hide the gun in an area off the hallway. As he runs out of the building, she takes the gun. He sees her doing it but is unable to get to her.
One of the next scenes is at a church where Gillie is singing in a choir for a wedding. She has the gun tucked in her clothing. As she looks out in the congregation, she sees Broni at the back and becomes frightened. Among the most gripping scenes, she flees to the loft of a church and hides. She is petrified as she sees Broni coming up the stairs holding a candle.
The heart of their relationship is established in that loft and the scene propels the story forward at an energizing pace. She is terrorized by him and yet there is some odd fascination she has. When she tells him that she actually saw what he did but promises not to say anything, he is intrigued. She even goes on to say that when he leaves on his next shipboard adventure, she wants to go with him. A bond is formed, acceptance is mainly established although he will have darker moments about her future.
Broni takes her into the countryside and these scenes are just so charming... two lonely people escaping into a world of play-acting, pony-riding, laughter and getting to know one another. He knows he fascinates her but, undisciplined as he tends to be and despite the fact that he needs her to be quiet about what she knows, he cares about her as father or older brother would.
Her interrogation scenes with police inspector Graham (Mills) are compelling. He has been informed that Gillie is a liar and he knows she's lying to him. I've seen my share of movies with cops grilling people but never have I seen a child be grilled like this. He is patient with her but he is also very tough. Gillie not only never gives in completely to the superintendent's probing but we see her wheels turning in her mischievous brain as she concocts her fiction. Without question these scenes have extra sparkle because we know that in real-life these two are father and daughter.
With very little cooperation Graham and his boys uncover enough information to know that Broni is the man they're after but the investigation is still missing positive proof, which, of course, Gillie could provide. But will she?
The finale comes aboard a ship that Broni has signed up to work on and make his escape. Graham and his two detectives race to board the ship but miss it at the dock. They can still see it, however, as they get a launch to reach it before the three-mile limit where they have no jurisdiction. They have taken Gillie with them. While I found the ending exciting in its cat and mouse sort of way, it did feel different from the rest of the film and apparently not everyone was satisfied with it.
Here is an acting treat. Mills gives a nicely nuanced performance, as noted, when he runs hot and cold during his interrogations. I see a man torn between the toughness of his job v.s. the kindness of his inner self. And wasn't he all the while busting his buttons with pride over working with his daughter in her first film?
I've gone on record falling all over myself complimenting Buchholz. He was one of the most emotional male actors I've encountered and as a result such fun to watch. Of course, watching that face was in a category all by itself. I also admire how they gave this character, after all, a murderer, some humanity and it is nearly impossible to not like him.
Hayley is nothing short of a revelation. If, like me, you've seen her primarily or only in Disney fare, you just don't know what you're missing. While she was such a treasure in those films, they were mainly fluff pieces that didn't require that she act to the extent that she does here. Of course she has those acting genes and perhaps included among them is her ability to compose herself like a much older professional. She had already mastered facial business the likes of which one would be hard-pressed to find in another so young. I now have a new favorite Hayley Mills film.
It's been said, by the way, that art imitated life. Hayley apparently was just as smitten in real life with Buchholz as her character is in the film.
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| The film's stars at the premier |
There's a great feeling of authenticity here. The Brits sure could dominate when one of their little black and white films wanted to dive into the dreary, everyday lives of ordinary people. To mix it all up in a crime drama worked for me. Filming on location in Cardiff certainly helped. Loved, too, Eric Cross's eye-catching photography with that realism, the quick cuts, those huge closeups, great shadows and lighting. It had a distinct look of film noir in this regard. That authenticity also came through with the supporting performances... not one of them made a false move.
The adapted screenplay by John Hawkesworth and Shelley Smith is intelligent, thoughtful and full of pathos. Director Thompson once said he thought he had a knack for choosing goods scripts. Looking over his list of films reveals his knack wasn't always working but I'm only too happy to add Tiger Bay to three films he made in a row in the early 60s... The Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear and one of my favorite spectacles. Taras Bulba.
Here's the trailer...
A 40's comedy
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