Tiger Bay (1959)
In Tiger Bay, the docklands of Cardiff, rough-and-tumble street urchin Gillie witnesses the brutal killing of a young woman at the hands of visiting Polish sailor Korchinsky. Instead of reporting the crime to the authorities, Gillie merely pockets a prize for herself — Korchinsky's shiny black revolver — and flees the scene. When Detective Graham discovers that Gillie has the murder weapon, the fiery young girl weaves a web of lies to throw him off course.
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Good concept, poorly executed.
As Good As It Gets
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
A terrific British movie that made HAYLEY MILLS into superstar status. We saw this at the MacArthur Theatre in Washington DC 60 years ago when there were theaters which specialized in British movies. One of the very best that takes you by surprise at how good it is. Besides acting ---- which she does brilliantly --- she radiated amazing sex appeal, or should I say magnetism. Both were true. The summary was not true though. The Polish man was NOT her boyfriend. I met Hayley Mills by accident in Calais, France in 1964. Dressed in teen grunge she stood about 5 feet tall and was pretty enough to break your heart. Later I received a short letter from her when she appeared on stage at the Kennedy Center.
Rating this movie was not an easy thing to do. Giving it 9/10 might sound a bit crazy for a movie with a pretty straightforward story like this. However it's mainly the extraordinary performance of 12 year old Hayley Mills as Gillie that eventually decided to go 1 higher than I initially intended to give. The chemistry between her and Horst Buchholz as Polish sailor Bronic was amazing. The role of superintendent Graham was played by Hayley's father who might or might not have anything to do with the introduction of his daughter to the movie world. Whatever it is I'm grateful it happened as later on Hayley would put on other awesome performances in both drama and family movies. For me she is one of those actresses that can take a movie to a higher level. In this movie I didn't have the feeling those were father and daughter in real. Same can be said for The Chalk Garden in which John Mills plays the butler. Tiger Bay works wonderfully in black and white, adds to the atmosphere. It has great settings with the haven, boats, streets and apartments having an authentic look truthful to its time.
There are a stack of good reasons for watching this movie: an extraordinary performance by the young Hayley Mills, in her first film; a solid storyline; deft direction by J. Lee Thompson; interesting Welsh locations; striking black and white photography; and a beautiful editing job. All good reasons. But the best reason, for me, is that the film depicts a warm, surprising relationship between a young man and a pre-teen girl, strangers until a chance meeting, that is not clouded or cloyed by hysterical and ugly suppositions of impropriety. It is hard to imagine this subject-matter being treated with such directness and vitality in a movie made today. The available DVD contains a brilliant transfer and fascinating commentary by Hayley Mills recorded in 2004. She has a lot to say about her co-star, the German actor, Horst Buchholz, who is terrific in the firm, and about working alongside John Mills, her father, who plays the investigating detective with his usual aplomb.
Tiger Bay was a great movie for a number of reasons. I will admit the kid and the killer plot is very familiar territory, and while the film offers very little new it is still a remarkable and I think underrated movie. The best element was the truly terrific debut performance of Hayley Mills. Quite frankly, her performance is one of the greatest child performances ever, that's how good it was. The plot about a young girl befriending a murderous sailor and her attempts to hinder the detective's investigation is still suspenseful and clever, and still manages to be intriguing in the slower moments. The cinematography is fabulous, and perfectly captures the sights of the Cardiff docklands and of Hayley's photogenic face. Also J Lee Thompson is a fine director of children, and directs Hayley with care and precision. Even more remarkable is the credible characters and the supporting acting of Hayley's father the wonderful John Mills and Horst Buchholz. All in all, a very good movie. 9/10 Bethany Cox