Hayley Mills and Horst Buchholz in Tiger Bay (1959)

“Tiger Bay” (1959) is a first for its two main stars in different ways. It’s really the first acting film for English actress Hayley Mills who plays Gillie Evans, a pre-teen growing up in a seedy section of Cardiff, Wales called Tiger Bay. For German actor, Horst Buchholz, it’s his first English language film. He plays Bronislaw Korchinsky (Bronik). a Polish sailor, who murders his girlfriend. The crime is what ties these two together because Gillie saw Bronik do it, and what’s more, she put the snatch on the gun that was used to commit the crime of passion.

Bronik, you see, arrived in Tiger Bay as happy as a lark, with every intention of marrying his lover, Anya. He was sending her money to pay her rent but when he shows up, Anya has flown the coop. Another woman is living there and she refers him to the landlord to locate Anya. After settling Anya’s debts for a fiver, Bronik gets Anya’s new address and some friendly advice from the landlord: “Don’t let your emotions run your life.” Too bad Bronik didn’t take that advice. His confrontation with Anya gets out of control when he learns she’s been two-timing him and when she pulls out a gun. Bronik might’ve been able to claim the shooting was an accident if he hadn’t let his emotions run his life. He shot Anya four times! Gillie already ran into Bronik and showed him where the building, whre she also lives. Attracted by the loud argument, she peeks through the letter-box and witnesses the murder.

At this point, we have already been introduced to Gillie’s background. She is a habitual liar, living with her seamstress aunt. Gillie was in the hallway after making a delivery for her aunt. She drops something down the stairwell, alerting Bronik to her presence, as well as another man named Williams who confronts Gillie and demands her caps. Williams is a policeman and knows the neighborhood kids play with cap guns. That’s what he thinks the gunfire was. Bronik and Gillie see each other and now he knows she has the gun.

Bronik tracks Gillie down to the church where she sings in the choir. He easily befriends her, oddly enough, given what Gillie witnessed. Besides, she obviously trusts no one. Perhaps she is drawn to his outsider status, or perhaps it is because he is outrageously handsome. It also helps that he promises the child he will take her away with him on a ship. Gillie doesn’t seem to have any qualms about Anya’s demise. In fact, she tells Bronik that Anya’s boyfriend is married and Bronik probably should have killed him.

John Mills, Hayley’s father, plays Superintendent Graham, the police chief on Bronik’s trail. He has known from his first appearance at the scene that Gillie was the only one who saw the killer, but he’s got his work cut out for him when it comes to getting the truth out of her!

Main Cast:
John Mills ………. Superintendent Graham
Horst Buchholz …… Bronislaw Korchinsky
Hayley Mills …….. Gillie Evans
Yvonne Mitchell ….. Anya
Megs Jenkins …….. Mrs. Phillips (Gillie’s aunt)

Notes:
• Hayley Mills got loads of praise for her performance, which led to Disney picking her up for such films as “Pollyanna” (1960) and “THe Parent Trap” (1961).
• There’s one scene in the church where Gillie shows the gun to a young boy, another member of the choir, and gives him a bullet. That scene leads to Superintendent Graham finding out that Gillie has a real gun. I thought the scene was great for showing that Gillie is, after all, a child who just has to show off. Brian Hammond plays the young boy.