City of Fear 1959
6.4 / 10
City of Fear
An escaped convict gets a hold of some radioactive material after his escape. Authorities desperately try to find the man that unknowingly is threating the lives of everyone in the city.
An escaped convict gets a hold of some radioactive material after his escape. Authorities desperately try to find the man that unknowingly is threating the lives of everyone in the city.
Videos & Photos
All 1 Videos & 9 Photos
cast
Full Cast & Crew
... Vince Ryker
... Chief Jensen
... Lt. Mark Richards
... Dr. John Wallace
... June Marlowe
... Detective Sgt. Hank Johnson
User reviews
See All 1 Reviews23 Jun 2021 by John Chard
It's all gone feverish in Los Angeles. City of Fear is directed by Irving Lerner and stars Vince Edwards, Lyle Talbot, John Archer and Steven Ritch. The latter of which co-wrote the screenplay with Robert Dillon. Music is scored by Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography by Lucien Ballard. "Last night a convict by the name of Vince Ryker escaped from San Quentin. After stealing what he believed to contain a pound of pure heroin ..... does not contain heroin, it contains Cobalt-60 in granular form." Cheap, compact but very effective "B" thriller from the tail end of the first noir cycle, City of Fear thrives on sweaty paranoia played out amongst Los Angeles locations. It's a ticking time bomb structure, convict man thinks he has a gold mine in his hands but actually holds something that is killing him by the hour. This lets in the police procedural aspects as the cops and scientists try to locate convict man and his radiation container. Urgent! Not only to save the convicts life, but also the city from probable disaster! OK, the science does not add up, nor does the fact that convict man never once gets to open the container to inspect his supposed golden haul! But the claustrophobic feel is high and the sense of doom married up to the helplessness of the protagonist does bring it into the noir universe. Ballard photographing is always a plus, though he does not get to show his considerable talents that much here, while Goldsmith, in one of his first musical scoring assignments, couples dramatic thrusts with jazzy reflections to great effect. Edwards (Murder by Contract) makes for a good noir loser. 7/10
Directors:
Producers:
Genres:
Release Date:
Feb 01, 1959 (United States)
Run Time:
1hr 21`
MMPA Rating:
NR
Original Language:
English
Production Countries:
United States
Status:
Released
Plot Keywords:
Related Movies To
City of Fear
It's all gone feverish in Los Angeles. City of Fear is directed by Irving Lerner and stars Vince Edwards, Lyle Talbot, John Archer and Steven Ritch. The latter of which co-wrote the screenplay with Robert Dillon. Music is scored by Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography by Lucien Ballard. "Last night a convict by the name of Vince Ryker escaped from San Quentin. After stealing what he believed to contain a pound of pure heroin ..... does not contain heroin, it contains Cobalt-60 in granular form." Cheap, compact but very effective "B" thriller from the tail end of the first noir cycle, City of Fear thrives on sweaty paranoia played out amongst Los Angeles locations. It's a ticking time bomb structure, convict man thinks he has a gold mine in his hands but actually holds something that is killing him by the hour. This lets in the police procedural aspects as the cops and scientists try to locate convict man and his radiation container. Urgent! Not only to save the convicts life, but also the city from probable disaster! OK, the science does not add up, nor does the fact that convict man never once gets to open the container to inspect his supposed golden haul! But the claustrophobic feel is high and the sense of doom married up to the helplessness of the protagonist does bring it into the noir universe. Ballard photographing is always a plus, though he does not get to show his considerable talents that much here, while Goldsmith, in one of his first musical scoring assignments, couples dramatic thrusts with jazzy reflections to great effect. Edwards (Murder by Contract) makes for a good noir loser. 7/10
Cast & Crew of
City of Fear
Directors & Credit Writers
... Director
Cast
... Vince Ryker
... Chief Jensen
... Lt. Mark Richards
... Dr. John Wallace
... June Marlowe
... Detective Sgt. Hank Johnson
... Eddie Crown
... Pete Hallon
... Jeanne (as Cathy Browne)
...
JH
Jean Harvey...
...
...
...
Produced By
... Producer
Videos & Photos of
City of Fear
Videos ( 1)
Photos ( 9 )
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