Movie Type: Urban Drama, Juvenile Delinquency Film
Themes: Kids in Trouble
Main Cast: Stanley Baker, Anne Heywood, David McCallum, Peter Cushing, John Slater
Release Year: 1958
Country: UK
Run Time: 108 minutes
Plot
Violent Playground opens with a few West Side Story style shots of a Liverpool street gang, commandeered by a very nasty-looking David McCallum. We're going to be seeing a lot more of McCallum before the final fadeout: His sister (Anne Heywood) is in love with an upright police officer (Stanley Baker). The film plods along predictable grounds until the climactic rumble sequence, which is as good as anything ever seen in Hollywood "J.D." picture. Violent Playground didn't get much American play in 1957, principally because there was a glut of such films at the time. The picture received a new lease on life in the early 1960s to cash in on the Man From UNCLE popularity of David McCallum. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Clifford Evans - Heaven Evans; Moultrie Kelsall - Superintendent; George A. Cooper - Chief Inspector; Michael Chow - Alexander; Sean Lynch - Slick; Tsai Chin - Primrose; Sheila Raynor; Bernice Swanson; Christopher Cooke
Credit
Basil Dearden - Director, Arthur Stevens - Editor, Reginald Wyer - Cinematographer, Michael Relph - Producer, James Kennaway - Screenwriter, James Kennaway - Book Author
A British take on the popular genre of J.D. films, Violent Playground centres on a Liverpool street gang led by Johnny Murphy (McCallum). When local Juvenile Liaison Officer Sergeant Truman (Baker) visits the Murphy household he becomes romantically involved with Johnny's sister (Anne Heywood).[1] He also finds considerable points of similarity between his previous investigations into the activities of an arsonist known as the 'Firefly' and his investigation of Johnny Murphy. Cushing plays a local priest attempting to heal the social problems of the locality. In the final sequence, Murphy holds a classroom full of children hostage at gunpoint.[2]
Themes
The film has an explicit social agenda. Inner-city estates are represented as a breeding ground for youth crime, the success rate of Liverpool's juvenile liaison officers is lauded in the prologue. The film owes much to U.S. films in a similar genre. McCallum's character, in particular, references roles played by James Dean and Marlon Brando. Rock 'n' Roll is presented as a negative influence. In a memorable scene, music appears to put the youths into a trance-like state culminating in McCallum leading a menacing advance on Barker's character.[2]
Production and release
The film was shot on location in Gerard Gardens in Liverpool. Interior scenes were shot in Pinewood Studios. It played thoughout Europe on its initial release, but failed to break into the U.S. market where a glut of similar films were being produced. It was, however, given a U.S. release in the 1960s to cash in on McCallum's global popularity in his role as Illya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E..[1] Following the Dunblane Massacre of 1996 the film has been largely absent from television schedules in the United Kingdom.
