IMDb RATING
6.4/10
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A vicious killer escapes from San Quentin with a cannister of what he believes to be heroin but is actually a radioactive substance that threatens all Los Angeles.A vicious killer escapes from San Quentin with a cannister of what he believes to be heroin but is actually a radioactive substance that threatens all Los Angeles.A vicious killer escapes from San Quentin with a cannister of what he believes to be heroin but is actually a radioactive substance that threatens all Los Angeles.
Kathie Browne
- Jeanne
- (as Cathy Browne)
Larry J. Blake
- Police Sergeant
- (uncredited)
Jean Harvey
- Landlady
- (uncredited)
Kenner G. Kemp
- Passerby
- (uncredited)
Tony Lawrence
- Sailor
- (uncredited)
Michael Mark
- Restaurant Proprietor
- (uncredited)
Vic Perrin
- Radio Announcer
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn 2000 cobalt-60 was unwittingly exposed in a scrap metal dump in Thailand. Several of the workers became ill and subsequently died. This was the only recorded incident involving the radioactive substance.
- GoofsCobalt-60 is easily shielded and would not have the adverse effects it does if kept in a lead container. Actually, cobalt-60 emits both both gamma rays and beta particles. While the beta is easily shielded by the canister (which did not appear to be lead), the high-energy gamma rays would have a serious effect on a human who carried a canister of cobalt-60 for several days.
- Quotes
Eddie Crown: [to Ryker] Those clothes you're wearing look like they were made by a hopped-up tailor. They're even pulling cops out of retirement to look for you.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Little Nicky (2000)
Featured review
Let's Make LA Really Glow!
In 1958, director Irving Lerner scraped together enough money to make two poverty row features that Columbia released. The first, Murder By Contract, is one of the fine sleeper classics of low-budget film-making, Vince Edwards as a professional hit-man.. By virtue of that film, Andrew Sarris includes a paragraph on Lerner in his seminal book on film directors and auteur theory, American Cinema.
Unfortunately, the second film doesn't measure up to the first. Still, City of Fear has its moments, particularly in the hand-held location shots that lend some much needed pacing. And that's a key problem with this thriller-- it stalls whenever the scenes shift to the offices where Archer and Talbot as police officials add little energy needed to rev up the chase. Thus we get a kind of jerky effect that can't sustain the story momentum.
And a good story premise it is, as the authorities try to track down Edwards before he can loose a big dose of radio-active cobalt on LA. In my book, Edwards was an interesting actor at this early stage, a genuinely commanding presence in a lot of better-than-average B-films. There's also the under-rated Kathie Browne who could be a pixie one minute and a hellion the next (though her part here is small). Steven Ritch too, is an interestingly obscure figure, collaborating on a number of B-level scripts as well as acting in them. And what guy could pass up a chance at the really luscious Patricia Blair-- move over Marilyn!
Anyway, it looks like Sarris was right-- Lerner was a one-shot wonder. Nonetheless, he manages a few neat tricks on display here. All things considered, this minor thriller is still worth a look-see, even 50 years later.
Unfortunately, the second film doesn't measure up to the first. Still, City of Fear has its moments, particularly in the hand-held location shots that lend some much needed pacing. And that's a key problem with this thriller-- it stalls whenever the scenes shift to the offices where Archer and Talbot as police officials add little energy needed to rev up the chase. Thus we get a kind of jerky effect that can't sustain the story momentum.
And a good story premise it is, as the authorities try to track down Edwards before he can loose a big dose of radio-active cobalt on LA. In my book, Edwards was an interesting actor at this early stage, a genuinely commanding presence in a lot of better-than-average B-films. There's also the under-rated Kathie Browne who could be a pixie one minute and a hellion the next (though her part here is small). Steven Ritch too, is an interestingly obscure figure, collaborating on a number of B-level scripts as well as acting in them. And what guy could pass up a chance at the really luscious Patricia Blair-- move over Marilyn!
Anyway, it looks like Sarris was right-- Lerner was a one-shot wonder. Nonetheless, he manages a few neat tricks on display here. All things considered, this minor thriller is still worth a look-see, even 50 years later.
Helpful•162
- dougdoepke
- Jul 2, 2007
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Stadt in Gefahr
- Filming locations
- 7600 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, California, USA(Texaco gas station where Vince uses the drinking fountain, since demolished)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 21 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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