The Frightened City

Herbert Lom - Waldo Zhernikov
John Gregson - Sayers
Sean Connery - Paddy Damion
Alfred Marks - Harry Foulcher
Yvonne Romain - Anya
Olive McFarland - Sadie
Frederick Piper - Ogle
David Davies - Alf Peters
Tom Bowman - Tanky Thomas
George Pastell - Sanchetti
Kenneth Griffith - Wally

A youthful Sean Connery plays a suave Irish heavy in this uninspired gangster noir, one of his last before being thrust into the limelight of Dr. No (1962) the following year. Connery stars alongside Czech Herbert Lom, who puts in a credible performance as suitably Machiavellian syndicate boss Zhernikov. Popular character actor John Gregson stars as the Scotland Yard detective prepared to bend the rules to put the villains behind bars.

London, 1961. It’s a city where gangsters control the streets of the West End and protection racketeers call the shots until ruthless accountant Waldo Zhernikov (Herbert Lom) organizes the six major gangs into a syndicate. The public face of the syndicate is unscrupulous night club owner Harry Foulcher (Alfred Marks), who employs reluctant ex-cat burglar Paddy Damion (Sean Connery) to act as the consortiums intimidating muscle.

When the group intend to expand their extortion rackets into new areas, one of the gangsters opposes the plan and is promptly murdered by Foulcher after being unwittingly set up by his good Damion. Damion swears revenge. He agrees to provide information to the police despite threats on the life of his best friend and ex-partner Wally (Kenneth Griffith). The police engineer Damion’s escape from custody and trail him to a bloody confrontation with Foulcher and Zhernikov.