Film Notes: Tiger Bay (1959) directed by J. Lee Thompson

UK / 105 min / b&w / Independent Artists Dir: J. Lee Thompson Pro: John Hawkesworth Scr: John Hawkesworth & Shelley Smith (pseudonym of Nancy Hermione Bodington), based on a short story Rodolphe et le Revolver by Noël Calef Cine: Eric Cross Mus: Laurie Johnson Cast: John Mills, Horst Buchholz, Hayley Mills, Yvonne Mitchell, Megs Jenkins, Anthony Dawson, George Selway, Shari, George Pastell, Paul Stassino, Marne Maitland Plot Summary: The story follows 12-year-old misfit Gillie (Hayley Mills), a Londoner living with her aunt in Cardiff’s Tiger Bay. Dashing around her tenement block, Gillie inadvertently witnesses Polish sailor Bronik Korchinsky (Buchholz) shoot his girlfriend dead and, without really knowing why, she takes the gun, hides it and lies to the police about what she saw. Desperate to retrieve the weapon, Bronik goes after Gillie and the pair hide out in the hills. As Inspector Graham (John Mills) closes in, Bronik and Gillie establish a tentative but genuine friendship, and she does her best to help him make his escape. (Source: Film4) Release Date: March 1959 (UK) Spanish title: La bahía del tigre IMDb Rating: 7.7

Tiger Bay is a 1959 British crime drama film that was shot mostly on location in the Tiger Bay district of Cardiff, at Newport Transporter Bridge in Newport (12 miles from Cardiff) and at Avonmouth Docks in Bristol. It features many authentic scenes of the children’s street culture and the black street culture of the time, along with many dockside shots and scenes in real pubs and the surrounding countryside. It marks a vital transitional moment in the move towards the British New Wave cinema exemplified a few years later by A Taste of Honey a 1961 film directed by Tony Richardson (Source: Wikipedia)

In a nutshell Tiger Bay ‘touches on issues not often broached in 1950s family film. It’s also an effective, affecting and intelligent thriller that showcases a great performance by Hayley Mills, sensitively directed by Thompson and solidly supported by her father.’ (Source: Film4)

Tiger Bay, 1959 blog post at Noirish.

20 Books of Summer 2016!

The string was as follows; I read it at Cleopatra Loves Books, which in turn found it at 746 Books. The aim is to attempt to read during the summer months. More specifically in the time period from 1 June to 5 September which is roughly 14 weeks or close to 1 and 1/2 books each week. I believe it’s feasible although I might not be able to achieve it. But it is worth a try.

Here below, you can find the list of books I’m planning to read for this challenge (in no particular order).

1. Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammett
2. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (re-read) by Agatha Christie
3. The Big Four by Agatha Christie
4. The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Chistie
5. Maigret at the Coroner’s (Inspector Maigret #32) by Georges Simenon, trans: Linda Coverdale
6. Maigret and the Old Lady (Inspector Maigret #33) by Georges Simenon, trans: Ros Schwartz
7. Madame Maigret’s Friend (Inspector Maigret #34) by Georges Simenon, trans: Howard Curtis
8. Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada, trans: Michael Hofmann
9. Tell no Tales by Eva Dolan
10. Rain Dogs (Detective Sean Duffy) by Adrian McKinty
11. The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude
12. The Sussex Downs Murder by John Bude
13. No Other Darkness (D.I. Marnie Rome 2) by Sarah Hilary
14. Nightblind by Ragnar Jónasson, trans: Quentin Bates
15. A Beautiful Place to Die by Malla Nunn
16. Dead Pretty (DS Aector McAvoy) by David Mark
17. The Blue Room by Georges Simenon, trans: Linda Coverdale
18. The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich
19. The G File (The Van Veeteren Series) by Hakan Nesser, trans: Laurie Thompson
20. Dead Lions by Mick Herron
21. A Madras Miasma (A superintendent Le Fanu Mystery) by Brian Stoddart
22. Shadow of the Rock by Thomas Mogford
23. The Abrupt Physics of Dying by Paul E. Hardisty
24. The Dying Place by Luca Veste
25. A Death in Summer by Benjamin Black

Forgive my maths, blame my TBR pile.