Violent Playground – 1958 | 108 mins | Drama | B&W

Plot Synopsis

A well-handled slice of British realism from the producing/directing team of Michael Relph and Basil Dearden, as detective Stanley Baker hunts for an arsonist. Its semi-documentary style and good location shots of the Liverpool slums lend an air of authority to proceedings. The story may be predictable, but it’s well-paced and builds up to a tense climax.

Set in Liverpool. Detective Sgt. Jack Truman (Stanley Baker) is unsuccessfully investigating an outbreak of arson by a perpetrator dubbed ‘Firefly’, when he is reluctantly transferred to the job of juvenile liaison officer in a depressed area. After picking up two young delinquent children for shoplifting, he falls in love with their elder sister Catherine Murphy (Anne Heywood), and becomes suspicious of her young brother Johnnie (David McCallum) – the leader of a local gang.

Truman had discovered a piece of wire in the ashes of one of the fires he had earlier investigated, and ties this to the parcel bindings used by a Chinese laundry in a nearby block of flats. With the assistance of a local priest (Peter Cushing), Truman further learns that Johnnie was once quite the hero at the scene of a blaze – and could be the arsonist recreating memories of his one moment of pride. After Johnnie is embarrassingly ejected from The Grand Hotel with his gang mockingly looking on, the police have a clue that this will be his next target. They arrive just as Johnnie is starting the fire, but he escapes in a laundry van – killing his accomplice in the process. With the police in pursuit, Johnnie acquires a gun and takes a group of schoolchildren hostage.