Rating this movie was not an easy thing to do. Giving it 9/10 might sound a bit crazy for a movie with a pretty straightforward story like this. However it's mainly the extraordinary performance of 12 year old Hayley Mills as Gillie that eventually decided to go 1 higher than I initially intended to give. The chemistry between her and Horst Buchholz as Polish sailor Bronic was amazing. The role of superintendent Graham was played by Hayley's father who might or might not have anything to do with the introduction of his daughter to the movie world. Whatever it is I'm grateful it happened as later on Hayley would put on other awesome performances in both drama and family movies. For me she is one of those actresses that can take a movie to a higher level. In this movie I didn't have the feeling those were father and daughter in real. Same can be said for The Chalk Garden in which John Mills plays the butler. Tiger Bay works wonderfully in black and white, adds to the atmosphere. It has great settings with the haven, boats, streets and apartments having an authentic look truthful to its time.
Review of Tiger Bay
