City of Fear

"A million eyes wide and wild with terror!"

1959 1h 21m EN

😐

6.3

MID

⭐

6.4

IMDB

★6.3TMDB · 33★6.4IMDB · 1,896

Thriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An escaped convict gets a hold of some radioactive material after his escape. Authorities desperately try to find the man that unknowingly is threating the lives of everyone in the city.

“A million eyes wide and wild with terror!”

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Cast

Vince Edwards
Vince Ryker
Lyle Talbot
Chief Jensen
John Archer
Lt. Mark Richards
Steven Ritch
Dr. John Wallace
Patricia Blair
June Marlowe
Kelly Thordsen
Detective Sgt. Hank Johnson
Joseph Mell
Eddie Crown
Sherwood Price
Pete Hallon

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Irving Lerner
Writers: Robert Dillon, Steven Ritch
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

81 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

67 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Irving Lerner, shot by Lucien Ballard. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Robert Lawrence shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Vince Edwards and Lyle Talbot and John Archer carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A million eyes wide and wild with terror!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Irving Lerner directs. Lucien Ballard behind the camera. Jerry Goldsmith scores. Robert Lawrence cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

181 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
267 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
4Directed by Irving Lerner, shot by Lucien Ballard. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Robert Lawrence shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Vince Edwards and Lyle Talbot and John Archer carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "A million eyes wide and wild with terror!".
9IMDB entry: tt0052696 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Only 33 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Lucien Ballard
Original score: Jerry Goldsmith
Editing: Robert Lawrence
Runtime: 81 min · 1h 21m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: City of Fear (1959)
IMDB rating: 6.4/10 · 1,896 votes
MPAA: Approved

Also by

Irving Lerner

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-09-22
★ 7/10
It's all gone feverish in Los Angeles. City of Fear is directed by Irving Lerner and stars Vince Edwards, Lyle Talbot, John Archer and Steven Ritch. The latter of which co-wrote the screenplay with Robert Dillon. Music is scored by Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography by Lucien Ballard. "Last night a convict by the name of Vince Ryker escaped from San Quentin. After stealing what he believed to contain a pound of pure heroin ..... does not contain heroin, it contains Cobalt-60 in granular form." Cheap, compact but very effective "B" thriller from the tail end of the first noir cycle, City of Fear thrives on sweaty paranoia played out amongst Los Angeles locations. It's a ticking time bomb structure, convict man thinks he has a gold mine in his hands but actually holds something that is killing him by the hour. This lets in the police procedural aspects as the cops and scientists try to locate convict man and his radiation container. Urgent! Not only to save the convicts life, but also the city from probable disaster! OK, the science does not add up, nor does the fact that convict man never once gets to open the container to inspect his supposed golden haul! But the claustrophobic feel is high and the sense of doom married up to the helplessness of the protagonist does bring it into the noir universe. Ballard photographing is always a plus, though he does not get to show his considerable talents that much here, while Goldsmith, in one of his first musical scoring assignments, couples dramatic thrusts with jazzy reflections to great effect. Edwards (Murder by Contract) makes for a good noir loser. 7/10

Production companies