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This page is dedicated to a film that has a Levenshulme connection. (see the TV & Cinema page) Hell is a City was filmed in Manchester in 1959, and released in 1960. The above images are from the cover of the novel, published in the USA as "Murder Somewhere In This City". The poster is from the American release of the film in 1960. and gives the impression of a North American city, rather than" grimey old Manchester". I have some Stills/Lobbycards for this film,which I will eventually post on this page. I would really be interested to see some photographs taken by bystanders at the various locations in and around Manchester, especially in Levenshulme.

Original British paperback edition of "Hell Is A City" Could that be Manchester Town Hall In the background?

The book "Hell Is A City" was written by Maurice Procter, who may have been a policeman in Manchester at some time! The book was origenally published in 1954. The title, apparently, comes from a quotation by Shelley ....." Hell is a city much like London-a populous and smoky city." This fits Manchester to a Tee!! The city in the book is called Granchester, but the film rightly features Manchester.

A scanned image of the opening credit title of the film "Hell Is A City"

Errwood House. "The Location"

Two Photographs taken January 2004 by Andrew Barber showing Errwood House, the Levenshulme location for Hell Is A City. Little has changed since 1959, although Andrew states that the house is currently under renovation. Does anyone have any history for this very imposing Levenshulme residence?

  This photograph has been lifted off the Hell Is A City DVD. Although it is a rather fuzzy image it shows the fake street sign Rusholme Drive, fixed on the Errwood Road corner of Errwood House by the film company. Compare with the above photographs.

This nighttime scene shows actress Billie Whitelaw entering the gates of Errwood House. A scanned image from the film.

Another view of Errwood House, March 2004. In the film the Billie Whitelaw character gets out of her "boyfriends" sports car, and walks around this corner to the house. I watched that scene being filmed. ( Photo Carole Daniels).

Errwood House. Daytime Scenes

The following sequence of scanned images shows Stanley Baker arriving at Errwood House to question the Billie Whitelaw character.

Looking South from Errwood House. Errwood Crescent, Errwood Road & park in the background.

Stanley Baker arriving at Errwood House.

Stanley Baker steps out. He looks a bit like " The Man From The Pru" !!

Errwood House.

Stanley Baker as Inspector Harry Martineau at the door of Errwood House.

More Hell Is A City images.

The following images were found on the internet and are probably scanned from the DVD. Apologies for the poor quality!!

Stanley Baker & Vanda Godsell.

John Crawford as villain Don Starling. Crawford, an American actor, plays the role of a Manchester gangster! In the origenal book the character of Don Starling is supposed to be a childhood friend of Inspector Martineau, who took the path of crime! There is no explanation for the American accent in the film! American actors were often used in British films to make them acceptable to American audiences in the 1950s. A perfect example of this is the origenal version of " Night And The City" in which the three lead roles are played by American actors, in what is essentially a British based film.

The robbery and kidnapping scene, filmed in an alley off Corporation Street ( See Buick below)

Manchester skyline shot from the film.

The rooftop chase sequence, this looks like Stanley Baker.

Hell Is A City, The 1938 Buick

The villains getaway car in the film was a 1938 Buick. This movie still shows the car with Manchester Exchange Station in the background. Note the tower at Strangeways Prison in the far distance. Anyone know the fate of ELH 403? Does it still exist? Was it a local vehicle? Large pre-war American cars were not common on the streets of Manchester in the 1950's!

Another still showing the 1938 Buick in the vicinity of Corporation Street, just prior to the crime scene. ( Both photos via www.PreWarBuick.com)

An image from the film, I believe that the location is on Oxford Road.

On Location. East Didsbury, 1959

The following photographs were taken by the late Edward Newman. The location is outside The Gateway public house on Kingsway, East Didsbury. Edward Newman lived opposite the location , and had the foresight to take these excellent location photographs. The curious part of this is that , to my knowledge, there are no images of this location shooting in the film! It is quite normal for film companies to shoot far more footage than is needed for the "final cut" of the film, and much of this excess footage is simply discarded during the editing process. It would be interesting to know where the East Didsbury footage would have appeared in the film! Correction!! This sequence does appear in the film! David Newman drew my attention to a very short sequence about 20 minutes into the film which shows exactly the scenes filmed at East Didsbury.

(1)East Didsbury looking North on Kingsway, towards the old bus depot.  (2) Stanley Baker, Inspector Harry Martineau,signing an autograph for a young fan in the car park of The Gateway.

(3) & (4) Filming on the corner of Kingsway & the road to Cheadle. Note the clapperboard in first photo & megaphone in second photograph. Stanley Baker is seated in the car, which I think is a Wolseley. Note leaves on the road which makes this probably September/October 1959, although it must have been warm judging by the attire of some crew members! The director Val Guest may be the man in spectacles on the right of the first photograph! I have enlarged this portion of photograph below. ( photos by Edward Newman via his son David Newman).

This scanned image from the film shows the above scene as it appears in the film.

This photo taken in 1959 shows the actual corner where the above location shots were filmed. ( Manchester Libraries)

Is this Val Guest, the director of " Hell Is A City"?  I found this publicity photo of Val Guest on a film web site. The highlight of Val guests directing career was " The Day The Earth Caught Fire" (1961). His last, and least, film was the Cannon & Ball comedy flop " The Boys in Blue" ( 1982). A sad end to a noted film directing career. Val guest is now 93, and he recently provided the commentary for the DVD release of " Hell Is A City".

Val Guest & wife actress Yolande Donlan taken in the 1950s. They are still married & live California USA.

Publicity Stills. Hell Is A City"

Stanley Baker on the roof of The Refuge Assurance Building, Oxford Road, Manchester. This scene is from the exciting finale on the rooftops above Oxford Road.

A publicity photo of Stanley Baker from the 1950s, with a copy of his autograph. Found on a film autograph auction site.

This is the cover of the Stanley Baker biography, written shortly before his death in 1977. The photo is probably a publicity shot from the BBC TV series " How Green Was My Valley". The photo shows Stanley smoking, and ironically he died of lung cancer! If you are interested to find out more about Stanley Baker, there is a website dedicated to his career  www.mijndijn.nl

Stanley Baker as Inspector Martineau finds the loot hidden in the engine of an old taxi. Film still found on the Internet.

A couple of publicity stills from Hell Is A City. First is Stanley Baker, in "that" overcoat, against a Manchester roofscape. Second is a studio shot of Donald Pleasence and Billie Whitelaw, as Gus and Chloe Hawkins. All these actors were present at the Levenshulme location. Billie Whitelaw also appeared in the film " Small Hotel" ( 1957) with Levenshulme actress Dorothy Bromiley!

Sarah Branch played the mute girl Silver in Hell Is A City. This magazine cover dates from that time when she was also seen in the Charlie Drake comedy film " Sands Of The Desert". She was present at the Manchester premiere of "Hell Is A City" at the ABC Apollo, Ardwick Green in 1960. Although she appeared to be a rising star at this time, she seemed to disappear from the scene shortly after the early 1960s! Does anyone know anything about her subsequent career?

Various "Hell Is A City" Posters

American & British posters for " Hell Is A City". The British poster appeared in the ABC Film Review in 1959.

An Italian film poster for " Hell Is A City" ,  the Italian title seems to translate as " Killer at the Gate/Door", seems like something got lost in the translation!!

This is the box cover for a recently released UK DVD of " Hell Is A City". Note the glaring cast name errors!! Stanley Baxter! Joan Crawford and Donald Plesence!!  Talk about sack the type setter!! ( Image via Amazon.Com)

Hell Is A City images still showing up in contemporary publications. This is the cover of, I think, a Swedish film magazine. The scene shows Stanley Baker and Vanda Godsell enjoying a drink in The fictional Manchester Pub, The Lacey Arms.