Poliakoff’s first film starring Charles Dance is reissued, and whil the story rambles and some of the acting isn’t great, it retains a confident power to intrigue

There is great archival and historical interest to the 1987 feature film debut of writer-director Stephen Poliakoff, which now on re-release. It is a peculiar, cerebral and often strangely toothless mystery drama with some pretty wooden acting, but also some fascinating, secret London locations, used with flair. These include the Kingsway tram tunnel – gateway to a veritable catacomb of secret spaces under the city – and the gigantic Edmonton incinerator (now the Edmonton EcoPark). Hidden City offers points of interest in its drama; chiefly, the assertive and characteristically haughty performance from Charles Dance as an educational psychologist who stumbles on an occult conspiracy. Dance incidentally has the most outrageously handbags-at-dawn fight with Bill Paterson (“Mind the suit!”) – an un-macho showdown to be compared...