The Frightened City Movie Review

The Frightened City has oodles of repeat value because the plot will zoom out of your head five minutes after you see it. Herbert Lom and John Gregson star as Waldo Zhernikov and Detective Inspector Sayers, and Sean Connery is billed third as Paddy Damion. His hairline is quite high here, so I suspect that IS a rug he's wearing in 1962's Dr. No and all the subsequent Bond films. All the pretty girls wear tight, low-cut dresses, and director John Lemont never misses a chance to emphasize their best assets—including their navels during one dance sequence in a nightclub. He's wise to do that because all the musical numbers here are ghastly. We see Connery doing manly things from the start, like judo, and then we watch him take a shower and change into an undershirt, slacks, and tight pullover shirt with no tie. There's plenty of American-style thugs in this one, with names like Tanky Thomas, Nero, Sanchetti, Salty Brewer, Lippy Green, and Basher Prebble (you get the idea), and many, many fights, which are a relief after all that singing and dancing. Composer Norrie Paramor, who appears here as the Taboo Club's pianist, wrote the film's featured songs, “Marvelous Lie” and “I Laughed at Love” with lyricist Bunny Lewis. Produced by Lemont and screenwriter Leigh Vance.

1961 91m/B GB Herbert Lom, John Gregson, Sean Connery, Alfred Marks, Yvonne Romain, Kenneth Griffith, Olive McFarland, Frederick Piper, John Stone, David Davies, Tom Bowman, Robert Cawdron, Norrie Paramor; D: John Lemont; W: Leigh Vance; C: Desmond Dickinson; M: Norrie Paramor. VHS, Closed Caption