T!GER |3/-\Y 1 1959

Hayley Mills makes her screen debut alongside father John in this sensitive, suspenseful drama. In 1950s Cardiff, a young girl witnesses a Polish sailor murder his girlfriend, then befriends the killer
Though Hayley Mills came to Tiger Bay with no formal acting experience whatsoever, the film immediately established her as one of the most accomplished child actors of her generation.

A poignant drama and an effective thriller, it shares its central theme - the relationship between a lonely, precocious child and a mysterious adult - with her fondly remembered British release, Whistle Down The Wind. However, while Tiger Bay is a film about childhood, and one that frequently adopts a child's view of the world, it isn't, in any conventional sense, a kids' film, and part of what makes it so successful is its engagement with adult themes and issues.

The story follows 12-year-old misfit Gillie (Hayley Mills), a Londoner living with her aunt in Cardiff's Tiger Bay. Dashing around her tenement block, Gillie inadvertently witnesses Polish sailor Bronik Korchinsky (Buchholz) shoot his girlfriend dead and, without really knowing why, she takes the gun, hides it and lies to the police about what she saw.

Desperate to retrieve the weapon, Bronik goes after Gillie and the pair hide out in the hills. As Inspector Graham (John Mills) closes in, Bronik and Gillie establish a tentative but genuine friendship, and she does her best to help him make his escape. It's the naturalness and easy intelligence of Hayley Mills' performance that makes her such an effective focus, and her father's quiet portrayal of the firm but fair Inspector suggests he knew this was his daughter's gig. Director J Lee Thompson (who, like Mills Sr came to the film fresh from Ice Cold In Alex), shoots key scenes from Gillie's perspective - an approach that makes odd little incidents highly evocative, and also highlights some intriguing moral ambiguities. Why, after all, is it wrong to lie to the police, if telling the truth will merely generate more pain?

Category:

Film & Animation

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[RER1949]

i watched this movie for the first time 50 years after it was made, Loved the movie Hayley Mills is just too brilliant for 11 years

[gabrieldix64]

They dont make them like this anymore..

A girl. A gun. A movie.

[anotherone1001]

I had the biggest crush on Hayley Mills.Thanks for posting this.

[matthew3alex]

Except for "Whistle Down The Wind."

[matthew3alex]

Even though that this was Hayley Mills' first film, she made a breif cameo appearance in the 1947 film, "So Well Rememered" when she was a baby.

[DVDluvr123]

This movie is okay. But Hayley Mills was much more colorful in her later movies.

[StellianAriolus]

@gabrieldix64 Plus platonic romance with the very good looking Horst Buccholz. =)

[Glyndwr65]

Cardiff long gone!

[BS1965able]

my daughter is named after Hayley Mills

[EbonyyBlackk]

I just watched this movie for the first time. I love it. My goodness, what a nice movie.

It's one of those heartwarming movies that you'd want your kids to watch one day.

I simply adore Hayley Mills.

I think that she's a superb actress especially this being her first motion picture and all.

FIVE STARS *****

[auroraslaugh]

Thank you! Fell in love with this movie when AMC aired it again the early '90's. My old VHS recording of it broke.

[foxy9916]

it's set in wales, where i live!