Biyografi Dünyası
Öldüren Şehir

Murderous City (Öldüren Şehir)

Movie · 1953 · 4 people

Ömer Lütfi Akad directed Öldüren Şehir (Murderous City) in 1953, a Turkish drama filmed in black and white. Kemal Film produced it, with Osman F. Seden and Şakir Seden as producers. The film draws on a work by Orhan Hançerlioğlu. It brings Ayhan Işık and Belgin Doruk together in the leads.

The story begins in a poor quarter of the Golden Horn, passes through the streets of Beyoğlu and ends in a back-street neighbourhood. Selma (Belgin Doruk) is eighteen; her father is an honest but hard-drinking sea captain and her mother a gossiping neighbourhood woman. Her fiancé Ali (Ayhan Işık) is a foreman in a workshop. When Ali is arrested for shooting a man at the local coffeehouse, Selma is drawn to the glitter of Beyoğlu, moves in with a friend who works at a nightclub and finds a job there herself. The attention of the club owner Şevket (Turan Seyfioğlu) stirs her friend's jealousy. Released after serving his sentence, Ali gets Selma out of that world and the two go back home. Nubar Terziyan (Osman), Kenan Pars (Kenan) and Şevki Artun also appear.

Osman F. Seden and Akad wrote the screenplay. Kriton İlyadis was the cinematographer, Turgut Kuzu the editor and Sami Pandır the art director.

DirectorÖmer Lütfi Akad
Production companyKemal Film
Murderous City (Öldüren Şehir)

Reactions

You can pick up to 3 reactions.

Cast

Nubar Terziyan Actor · died at 84 Osman Belgin Doruk Belgin Doruk Actor · died at 58 Selma Ayhan Işık Film actor · died at 50 Ali Kenan Pars Kenan Pars Actor · died at 88 Kenan

Titles sharing this cast

More from this director

Through different eyes

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

A film signed by Ömer Lütfi Akad that brings Ayhan Işık and Belgin Doruk together, it carries the air of the years when Turkish cinema was starting to mature. Stretching from a poor quarter of the Golden Horn to the glittering streets of Beyoğlu, it tells of a young woman drawn in by the lure of the big city. Characters like the honest but hard-drinking sea-captain father and the gossiping mother bring the neighbourhood life of the era to life with familiar warmth. Today it may seem a little melodramatic, but it is a heartfelt story with a moral centre.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Murderous City is a valuable document for reading 1950s Istanbul through class. A poor quarter of the Golden Horn, the nightlife of Beyoğlu and a back-street neighbourhood: the film maps the city's layers through these places. Selma turning to the nightclub world after her fiancé Ali is arrested shows both the lure and the danger of the big city for poor young women of the period. Drawing on a work by Orhan Hançerlioğlu also suggests an eye for social questions. Its view of the city as a moral danger and of glamour as corruption, however, may look rather one-dimensional today.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

A fiancé who shoots a man in a coffeehouse, an arrest, a nightclub, jealousy: on paper there's plenty to build tension with. But this is a 1953 drama, and the pace is slower than you'd expect; things move through emotion rather than action. Ayhan Işık is a draw, and the Beyoğlu streets add atmosphere. If you're curious about early Turkish cinema, give it a go; if you want something fast, look elsewhere.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

Reviews (0)

Log in Log in to write a review.

Comments