| Violent Playground | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Basil Dearden |
| Produced by | Michael Relph Earl St. John (executive producer) |
| Written by | James Kennaway |
| Starring | Stanley Baker, Anne Heywood, David McCallum, Peter Cushing |
| Music by | Philip Green |
| Cinematography | Reginald H. Wyer Reg Johnson (exteriors) |
| Editing by | Arthur Stevens |
| Studio | The Rank Organisation |
| Release date(s) | 1958 |
| Running time | 108 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Violent Playground is a 1958 British film directed by Basil Dearden starring Stanley Baker, Peter Cushing and David McCallum.
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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]
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, Marlon Brando, and especially Vic Morrow in Blackboard Jungle. 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 Baker's character.[2] British audiences watching this film would certainly have noted that the poor working class subjects of the film were almost entirely made up of Liverpool's sizable Irish minority.
The film was shot on location in Gerard Gardens in Liverpool. Interior scenes were shot in Pinewood Studios. It played throughout 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, possibly because of scenes featuring school children being held hostage at gunpoint.
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