Flame in the Streets is a 1961 film directed by Roy Ward Baker and based on the 1958 play Hot Summer Night by Ted Willis. It opened at the Odeon Leicester Square in Londons West End onJune 1961.
Hot Summer Night premiered at the Bournemouth Pavilion onSeptember 1958, subsequently reaching the New Theatre now the Nol Coward Theatre in Londons West End onNovember. It ran for 53 performances, closing onJanuary 1959. Directed by Peter Cotes, the cast comprised John Slater Jacko, Joan Miller Nell, Andre Melly Kathie, Lloyd Reckord Sonny Lincoln, Harold Scott Old Man Palmer, Joyce Howard Judy Gomez and Richard Walter Frank Stephens.After a leisurely start, noted The Stage, the play builds up into a passionate, almost violent piece of theatre, though in The Spectator Alan Brien called the play Ted Williss new dramatic pamphlet and suggested that it failed to rise above the level of the living newspaper. In later years Peter Cotes called the play one of the first pieces about relationships between black and white people, noting that it reaped a fine press in a limited run and Willis was treated with more respect as a stage playwright than he had ever been before. By Williss own account, Another less pleasant reaction came in the form of some hate mail. ........
Source: Wikipedia