Showing posts with label melvyn hayes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label melvyn hayes. Show all posts

Sunday 1 December 2019

SOCIAL UNREST GANGS AND GUNS : IVESON REVIEWS THE 1958 BAKER : CUSHING AND MCCALLUM DRAMA 'VIOLENT PLAYGROUND'


EVERY CITY HAS ITS DANGEROUS YOUTH! Stark explosive drama - as the CAMERAS LAY BARE the heart of a big city and probe the secrets of its Violent Playground  . . . 

MARK IVESON REVIEWS 
Starring Stanley Baker, Anne Heywood, Peter Cushing, David McCallum Directed by Basil Deardon
 


IT IS ALWAYS a pleasure to watch a Peter Cushing film for the first time, especially if it’s not horror related, and this gritty, if dated slice of social commentary is an interesting part of the actor’s movie portfolio.  


AFTER HIS TELEVISION success, Cushing’s burgeoning film career quickly gathered momentum with several high profile supporting roles. Had Hammer not intervened to make Cushing a star in The Curse of Frankenstein (1956), he would have still commanded some excellent film work throughout the late fifties, and in a variety of cinema genres.



VIOLENT PLAYGROUND is a British attempt to imitate the style of America’s popular juvenile delinquent films that included The Blackboard Jungle (1955), Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Crime in the Street (1956). It’s an important movie because it effectively presents the struggles of post war Britain, and is further emphasised by the striking use of locations, in this case the city of Liverpool. Val Guest later made excellent use of Manchester in Hammer’s Hell is a City (1960), and Sidney Hayers did the same for Newcastle in Payroll (1961). Interestingly enough, none of these films feature regional accents! 



THE SOCIAL REALISM in Violent Playground also pre-dates Jack Clayton’s Room at the Top (1959), a pivotal film that created the documentary style ‘kitchen sink’ drama that was influential in British cinema during the early sixties, and was followed by Karel Reisz’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1961), John Schlesinger’s A Kind of Loving (1962) and Lindsay Anderson’s This Sporting Life (1963).




THE PLOT:
DETECTIVE SERGEANT Jack Truman (Baker) is investigating the activities of an arsonist known as ‘Firefly.’ He is suddenly dropped form the case to be appointed juvenile liaison officer at a local inner city estate populated by mainly Irish families. Truman does not relish his new job because, being a bachelor, he knows nothing about kids.



A MEETING WITH twins Patrick and Mary Murphy (Fergal and Brona Boland, in their only film together) brings him to the attention of older brother Johnny (McCallum), leader of a street gang whose own activities seem to run parallel with his earlier investigation into arson attacks. The situation is further complicated by Truman’s emotional involvement with the twins’ older sister and guardian Cathie (Heyward). Also on hand is the tough but kindly priest (Cushing), who is aware of Johnny’s traumatic early life. This chain of events soon spiral out of control.


VIOLENT PLAYGROUND is a film of its time. It has dated, and some scenes are melodramatic, but it pulls no punches in showing the gritty realism of a working class area, and the increasing criminal activities of a younger generation left with no direction in life.  


THERE IS NOTHING feel good about the subject matter, and it is all down to producer Michael Relph and director Basil Deardon, who would later tackle the taboo subjects of racism in Sapphire (1959) and homosexuality in Victim (1961). The film has a nostalgic feel; all plain clothes cops wore trench coats and trilbies, the delinquents are a tad too well scrubbed and the ladies wore headscarves, but there are no stereotypes. 


THE CHINESE brother and sister (brilliantly played by real life siblings Michael Chow and Tsai Chin) are not ‘me so solly, no speaky English’ characters; it’s actually quite refreshing to see Tsai Chin not playing a double-agent or sinister daughter of a master criminal! Everyone is clearly defined and this is further enhanced by excellent performances from a well chosen cast.


PERHAPS THE MOST DISTURBING scene is where Johnny (why are all bad boys called Johnny in these movies?), armed with a machine gun, takes a class of school kids hostage. This uncomfortably echoes the recent shootings that have occurred in the States. It still makes for a tense and uncompromising climax. Basil Deardon directs with a sense of unease, and had it not been for the studio insisting on a happy ending, it could have ranked as a classic piece of British cinema. 



AS PREVIOUSLY STATED, the performances are excellent. Stanley Baker is his usual charismatic self, showing typical urban intensity mixed with the quiet authority of his position within the community. There is also a genuine chemistry between Baker and Anne Heywood, who is equally compelling in a somewhat underwritten role. 




SUPPORTING PERFORMANCES are of a typical high standard. Clifford Evans provides a nice touch of humour as the understanding headmaster, with John Slater being well served as Baker’s colleague. The Boland twins are a creepy pair; I wonder if they inspired Stanley Kubrick when he made The Shinning (1979)!
 


THE REAL STAR is David McCallum, who had previously worked with Baker in Hell Drivers (1955). At 24, his is a tad too old for Johnny, but his youthful good looks and fierce intensity makes him a passable teenager. As one of the new angry young men of British cinema McCallum shows real star promise with an aggressively powerful performance. Sadly future films failed to make use of his unique presence, and he subsequently got blander with each role, despite his major success in Hollywood in the mid sixties. 




WE NOW COME TO PETER CUSHING. As versatile as he was in period roles, it is difficult to place the actor in this kind of film as his classical approach could not be further away from the modern method acting style seen in Violent Playground. That said he gives a first rate performance. Moving away from the Miles Malleson ecclesiastical bumblers from previous British films, Cushing’s priest is convincingly street wise, and looks at home in the surrounding area. Although understanding of Johnny’s problems, he becomes a more forceful presence when confronting the boy during the climax. It is a winning turn, and one regrets Cushing not having more screen time. 



LOWER DOWN THE CAST we have Young Frankenstein himself, Melvyn Hayes, and comedian Freddie Starr, under his real name Freddie Fowell, as members of Johnny’s gang. You can’t miss Freddie; he’s the only one with a Scouse accent!
 




RELEASED IN 1958, Violent Playground did well in the UK and Europe, although it failed to do much business in America as the market for juvenile delinquent movies had pretty much been flooded by their home grown efforts. The success of The Beatles, and David McCallum’s TV popularity in The Man From UNCLE a few years later made Liverpool a popular city world wide, and as a result, the film got a belated Stateside release to reasonable box office success.




VIOLENT PLAYGROUND, is by no means a classic British movie, but it holds enough interest and does require repeated viewings. Of course it’s always wonderful to see Peter Cushing doing something against his usual style, and his performance here remains one of his best non horror efforts.


Saturday 12 January 2019

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MELVYN HAYES : THE YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN OF 1957!


JOIN US IN WISHING MELVYN HAYES a VERY Happy Birthday today. Melvyn was born today January 11th 1935, and since 1950 when he was "disappearing twice daily for £4 per week" performing the indian rope trick in Maskelyne's Mysteries at the Comedy Theatre in London! A very long and accomplished career on stage, tv and the big screen. Melvyn is quite an institution in the UK, having appeared in many TV dramas, soaps and comedy shows, the most successful probably being 'It Aint Half Hot Mum' in the 1970's. The show is now banished to 'Room 101' at the BBC, being considered like many shows from that era, quite UN-PC... you decide?


MELVYN WORKED WITH Peter Cushing as the young Baron Frankenstein in Cushing's first film for Hammer, 'The Curse of Frankenstein' (1957) he appeared as Daft Jamie in the brilliant 'Flesh and the Fiends' (1960) and with Cushing in 'Violent Playground' (1958) His last appearance with Peter was in the doomed 'A Touch of the Sun' in 1979 with Oliver Reed..



HAYES, MCCALLUM and ONE OTHER Brit comedian, in the middle! Can you name him?


A VERSATILE ACTOR, who stays young at 84, who will no doubt be having a real knees up and party as we wish him, Many Happy Returns Today 😉 Happy Birthday Melvyn and many more to come!



Friday 12 January 2018

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOUNG VICTOR : MELVYN HAYES


JOIN US IN WISHING MELVYN HAYES a VERY Happy Birthday today. Melvyn was born today January 11th 1935, and since 1950 when he was "disappearing twice daily for £4 per week" performing the indian rope trick in Maskelyne's Mysteries at the Comedy Theatre in London! A very long and accomplished career on stage, tv and the big screen. Melvyn is quite an institution in the UK, having appeared in many TV dramas, soaps and comedy shows, the most successful probably being 'It Aint Half Hot Mum' in the 1970's. The show is now banished to 'Room 101' at the BBC, being considered like many shows from that era, quite UN-PC... you decide?



MELVYN WORKED WITH Peter Cushing as the young Baron Frankenstein in Cushing's first film for Hammer, 'The Curse of Frankenstein' (1957) he appeared as Daft Jamie in the brilliant 'Flesh and the Fiends' (1960) and with Cushing in 'Violent Playground' (1958) His last appearance with Peter was in the doomed 'A Touch of the Sun' in 1979 with Oliver Reed..see our PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL. A versatile actor, who stays young at 83, who will no doubt be having a real knees up and party as we wish him, Many Happy Returns Today 😉 Happy Birthday Melvyn and many more to come 🙂


ABOVE: IN CASE YOU MISSED IT. HERE'S MELVYN SHARING A GREAT ANECDOTE ABOUT MEETING HIS FELLOW CAST MEMBER, CHRISTOPHER LEE. . .





REMEMBER! IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA     

 

Friday 27 October 2017

WATCH! A TOUCH OF SUN : LESSER SEEN PETER CUSHING FILMS SEASON



THE LESSER SEEN PETER CUSHING FILMS SEASON: Number 3# : 'A TOUCH OF SUN' or 'No Secrets' is ANOTHER one of those Cushing films, where . . . it's not what you are expecting. It feels like a 'Carry On' film, mixed with maybe the chaos of Casino Royale (1965) played out by the Worthington Town Amateur Little Theatre Group, with poor Peter Cushing, as always giving his best. He DOES actually do quite well, and has some of the best line. But much of his, 'business' on screen, seems under rehearsed. Which I am sure, he would have hated! 



FOR A LONG TIME NOW, I have had the feeling this was film was produced as someones, TAX right off! Made in Zambia, it never left there. It never received a theatrical release, though some do say it did get a tv screening in New Zealand! Cushing plays Commissioner Potts, a role that was originally intended for actor Terry-Thomas . .. probably hoping to cash in on his 1959 film success, 'Carlton Browne of the FO'... but THAT was 1959. I would LOVE to hear your opinions on this one. You'll be puzzled, you'll be foxed, you..might not make it to the end! Many thanks to Jean Layette for his help on sourcing this little seen... film. 😉 TRIVIA: As well as Cushing and Reed, there is another Hammer Film connection in this film. Did you spot them?




HAVE YOU READ CALLUM MCKELVIE's TWO PART FEATURE on the DALEK films with Peter Cushing as Dr Who? Lots of rare IMAGES and muchmore : PART ONE is HERE PART TWO HERE!



IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll  love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.  Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA  . . 
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