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Violent Playground Reviews

  • 1957
  • 1 hr 48 mins
  • Drama
  • NR
  • Watchlist
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Forceful juvenile delinquency tale, as cop (Stanley Baker) sets out to tame them in Liverpool. Fine performances by Baker, Anne Heywood, David McCallum (as a wild youth), and Peter Cushing; excellent script (James Kennaway) and direction (Val Guest). Walker: John Slater. Heaven: Clifford Evans. Excellent. Basil Dearden directed.

Baker plays a Liverpool cop pulled off his sleuthing of a series of arson fires and given the job of Juvenile Liaison Officer. One of the families assigned to his jurisdiction, comprising McCallum, Heywood, and two young children, finds a particular place in his heart as he falls for the elder sister. McCallum proves to be responsible for the fires Baker had been investigating. When the youth is caught red-handed, he gets hold of a gun and holds out in a classroom using his young siblings as hostages. A tautly scripted effort is given a realistic bent through the atmospheric photography and the subtle handling of the children.