Violent Playground (1957)
Johnnie (David McCallum) is a young thug and leader of an inner city street gang who get their kicks setting buildings on fire. One day when an arson attempt at the Grand Hotel goes wrong Johnnie holes up at a local school holding a class of pupils hostage at gunpoint.
Classic Liverpool set fifties crime thriller. Violent Playground is for the first half a kitchen sink style drama which highlights the social problems and struggles with authority for many of the local working class children in Liverpools' tough council estates. As the characters develop so does the main plot of Johnnie the arsonist and Stanley Baker's police detective trying to track him down along with the local priest (Peter Cushing) who believes Johnnie can be saved before things take a turn for the worse.
Highly recommended for lovers of British crime films.
The dvd from Strawberry Media is a restored print which looks and sounds excellent.
|