City of Fear

1959

1h 21m

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

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Thriller

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.

Directors

Irving Lerner

Writers

Steven Ritch(writer by)

Robert Dillon(writer by)

Stars

Vince Edwards

Lyle Talbot

John Archer

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Watch City of Fear (1959) Original Trailer [FHD]
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Watch CITY OF FEAR (1958) Clip - "84 Hours" - Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics II

Top cast

Vince Ryker

Chief Jensen

Lt. Mark Richards

Dr. John Wallace

June Marlowe

Detective Sgt. Hank Johnson

Eddie Crown

Pete Hallon

Jeanne

Directors

Writers

Steven Ritch(writer by)

Robert Dillon(writer by)

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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

John Chard22 Sep, 2015