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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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.
Tiger Bay is directed by J. Lee Thompson, is based on the short story by Noel Calef, has a screenplay by John Hawksworth and Shelley Smith and stars Hayley Mills, Horst Buchholz and John Mills.Korchinsky(Horst Buchholz)is a Polish sailor home on leave. When he goes to his girlfriends flat he discovers she is cheating on him . In a heated argument he shoots her dead. Gillie(Hayley Mills)is a young girl who lives in the same building, hearing the argument she peeks through the girlfriends letterbox and witnesses the murder. When Korchinsky discovers she was a witness he follows her to a local church where she sings in the choir. She sees him and runs to the attic to hide. He quizzes her to find out what she knows and when she admits to seeing everything he takes her on the run with him.On their trail is Superintendent Graham (John Mills)who will stop at nothing to find them. As they go on the run Korchinsky and Gillie become friends and actually begin to care for one another a great deal. Gillie doesn't want to leave him and doesn't want anything to happen to him.This is a first rate thriller with Buchholz giving an incredible performance as the desperate sailor. He portrays this mans desperation and inner gentleness perfectly and despite his crime he is far from a bad man.This is Hayley's screen debut and she is excellent, you would never guess that this was her first time on screen. She and Buchholz have a lovely chemistry and you believe their growing friendship. Hayley also does a good job of acting alongside her father John Mills, the scene where he questions her about the murder she saw is very funny as Gillie is so evasive to his questions, there's lots of dialogue in that scene and Hayley manages quite well. They are also very good together in the scene in the car where workmen block their path to the docks and she keeps saying she's unwell or she's hurt herself to try and delay the Inspector.This is a moving story as well as an excellent thriller. It has many similarities to the 1952 film Hunted starring Dirk Bogarde and if you like Tiger Bay take a look at that one too.
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.
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
