Don't Believe the Hype

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

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.

Like a lot of people, I suppose, I was familiar with young Hayley Mills through her Disney films of the early to mid-60s. It's somewhat of a shame that she was shuffled into less challenging child-oriented fare when she offered such a fascinating performance in this, her very first film. I was pleased to find a copy of it, especially being that the vast majority of her early non-Disney pictures are quite rare if not forgotten altogether.Although it was Mills that brought "Tiger Bay" to my attention, it has much more to offer than that. J Lee Thompson, whose greatest and most known achievement was "Cape Fear", handles the direction of this film with a kind of grace and style uncommon to 1959. There are things that place it squarely in the period - the soundtrack, for one - but it has a very free, alive feeling that overcomes convention. There is a lot of on-location shooting, and the black & white cinematography is both realistic and very engaging.The other actors are all good, though somewhat on the over-the-top side at times. I liked Horst Buchholz (who I'd seen before, but never noticed). He plays the role of the spurned lover quite well, but the character goes from being angry and violent to downright likable far too quickly to be completely convincing. John Mills (Hayley Mills' father) plays the serious detective-type quite well, very intense.I really enjoyed "Tiger Bay" it has enough energy and pace to keep you engaged. It never drags or gets lost on its way to conclusion. For a film of its kind from the period in which it was produced, this is one of the best I've seen. This is a great little thriller.

Terrific British film about soulmates who just happen to be a tomboyish 12 year old girl and a Polish sailor on the run from the police for the murder of his girlfriend. Hayley Mills is the girl Gillie, and she turns in a fine performance in her debut film. Her father, the great John Mills of course, plays a policeman who can't get the truth out of Gillie, and Horst Buchholz is just wonderful as the sailor Korchinksy. Mills and Buchholz share a relationship that is quite uncommon. One gets the feeling that these two know they are made for each other, and if Korchinksy somehow avoids execution after his capture at the end of the film, Gillie will be waiting for him. Director J.Lee Thompson has turned a possibly perverse and uncomfortable relationship into something that is beautiful and very believable. The leads have great chemistry, too. Great location work in Cardiff gives a sense of realism, and the film is quite frank and gritty compared to most American releases at the time. Unfortunately, it is also saddled with a terrible, jangling score that just doesn't fit the film at all. But overall, a great little gem.

I also saw this movie as a young girl. It was evidently re-released after Hayley Mills became so well known in the US. I was mesmerized. She was so much more natural and less cutesy than in her Disney films. It was not until I was an adult that I saw Whistle Down the Wind and Gypsy Girl. In her early English movies she is far more natural. (Check Gypsy Girl out for an adolescent Hayley and a gorgeous young Ian McShane.) Although the ending leaves you hanging and wondering what happens to Korchinsky, it is also satisfying. I was just touched to see that he really was decent and truly cared for Gilly, enough to risk his future. Trivia: Michael Anderson Jr., who later starred in "In Search of the Castaways" in 1962 with Hayley, was an unacknowledged child on the wharf in Tiger Bay. I kept looking, thinking he looked familiar.