Pre James Bond Connery stars in this mid-week pot boiler exploring the virtues and loyalties that are challenged in the emerging crime era, where villains don't observe the traditional customs leading to a turf war with several casualties. Connery is a small time racketeer on the side, his old friend Alf is a crime boss (Davies) who falls-out with his hoodlum peers and is callously dispatched by the unscrupulous Harry (Marks) after Connery unwittingly sets him up. Connery of course vows revenge, but crime syndicate boss Lom pulls the strings from a distance, outwitting Scotland Yard (Gregson) and relying on stand-over tactics to retain his power.
Melodramatic at times, despite a number of plot twists and double-crosses, "Frightened City" fails to frighten. Kenneth Griffith as a crippled small time crook defines the picture's message when he steels Connery's resolve to avenge his friend's treatment and reinstate some modicum of honour among thieves. It's a different lens through which to tell this otherwise formula tale, though ultimately undeveloped. Gregson is solid as Scotland Yard's wily crime stopper and Marks played his toe-cutter role with a smarmy realism; disappointingly, Lom is confined by his essentially extraneous scenes and doesn't have the opportunity to develop a consistent, forceful characterisation.
Good to see Connery in a leading role before his James Bond transformation, displaying those rough edges that were destined to propel him into stardom, but "Frightened City" is perhaps notable only for that appearance.
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