Kiss of Death (1947)

I'll make some noise about how effective silence is in this so-so film noir.

Nick Bianco (Victor Mature) is a nice guy and a con. Out of jail for a year, he can't find work. Having a rap sheet is hurting his employment prospects. It's Christmas Eve and Bianco has two daughters hoping for something from Santa under the tree.


Bianco, and a couple of his pals, rob a jeweler in New York City's Chrysler Building.


Cue silent scene No. 1. The thugs have to take the elevator down 20+ floors. It's Dec. 24. That means plenty of stops between the scene of the crime and the exit door. Cut repeatedly between the bound and gagged businessman straining to hit an alarm and Bianco and company keeping a nervous eyes on the descending floor numbers.


FATHER AND SON, THUGS BOTH


They don't make it out in time. Police arrive. Bianco tries to flee and gets shot by police. History repeats itself. His father was shot dead by the coppers 20 years before.


Assistant district attorney Louis D'Angelo offers Bianco a deal. Tell him who else took part in the heist and he'll get reduced jail time. Bianco doesn't bite -- even with the prospect of not seeing his two girls for a long stretch.


CHANGE IN GAME PLAN


Three years into his stint at Sing Sing, Bianco gets a change of heart. His wife, despondent over tight finances, kills herself. His children are put in an orphanage.


Bianco decides to talk. He gets parole and can stay out of jail if he agrees to help D'Angelo with some other cases.

KILLER WORK BY RICHARD WIDMARK


One major file the district attorney needs help with is putting vicious killer Tommy Udo (Richard Widmark, Panic in the Streets (Fox Film Noir)) behind bars. Widmark is impressive in his film debut. He received a best supporting Oscar nomination for his work in this Henry Hathaway film. Udo is the kind of guy who cheers for a boxer to knock his opponent's eye out. Nice.


Udo is a cold-blooded killer with a sinister giggle. Cross him at your own peril. The mother of an associate, thought to have squealed instead of Bianco, meets a horrific end.


Bianco testifies against Udo. Udo is found not guilty. He comes looking for revenge.


This leads to silent scene No. 2. Bianco knows he can't run. He knows his new wife, Nettie (Coleen Gray), and his daughters will be in danger as long as Udo is free.


Bianco tracks Tommy down to an Italian restaurant. There's silence as he sits at a table, smoking a cigarette, waiting for Uto to come out of a back room. Through the sliver of a slightly-opened door, Tommy approaches. This scene heightens the suspence between the two finally squaring off -- for good.


There's not a lot of surprises in Kiss of Death. Viewers can pretty much guess what will come next. But those two silent scenes, a great Widmark and some fine supporting work, including an early role for Karl Malden (Patton) make this 1947 release a mild curiousity.


RATING: 7.5/10


FUN FACTS: Brian Donlevy received a best supporting actor Oscar nomination for Beau Geste.

Kiss of Death was Coleen Gray's first major film role.

Taylor Holmes, who appears as Bianco's corrupt lawyer Earl Howser, was the voice of Stefan in Disney's Sleeping Beauty. He made his film debut in Efficiency Edgar's Courtship (1917).

Pickup on South Street (1953)

Pickup on South Street is no con job.


This early effort from American director Samuel Fuller (The Big Red One) offers great performances, including one nominated for an Oscar, fine camera work and, at times, intense violence that could make viewers flinch.

PICKPOCKET FACES STARK FUTURE


Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) is a pickpocket who's running out of chances. New York's finest have already nabbed him three times. If he's caught again, he goes to the big house for life.


He targets Candy (Jean Peters) on a crowded subway train. Skip's no dip when it comes time to steal other people's money, but he doesn't know two nearby federal agents are watching the young lady. Candy is a mule, transporting American military secrets to the Communists.


COLD WAR HEATING UP


Check out the year this film was released. The Cold War between America and the Soviet Union was hot, hot, hot. Candy, and her handlers, want the microfilm that Skip pocketed back. Police offer the veteran crook a deal if he'll come clean with the sought-after secret. He's suspicious they'll be true to their word. McCoy's not worried about national security. He smells plenty of cash to be made by holding out for a rich payout before returning the film.


Widmark (Panic in the Streets (Fox Film Noir)) is impressive as the tough-talking thief who eagerly goes toe-to-toe with his police nemesis, Capt. Dan Tiger (Murvyn Vye). Thelma Ritter earned an Oscar nomination for her work as Moe, an informer who will sell information about pretty much anybody, including those she's close to.


Richard Kiley (Jurassic Park, Howard the Duck) also stands out as Joey, the nervous, under-the-gun Communist agent who starts to sweat when Candy tells him her purse was picked.


Victor Perry is a hoot in a brief appearance as Lightning Louie, another hustler ready to make a buck by doling out information others want.


FULLER TALKS FOR 30 MINUTES


Pickup on South Street gets solid treatment from The Criterion Collection. The 80-minute film's DVD extras include two segments, with a total running time of 30 minutes, of Fuller talking about his film noir effort. Fuller describes his love of subways and the affinity he has for pickpockets and other criminals. He wrote South Street's script too.

RATING: 8/10


FUN FACTS: Victor Perry's film resume is slim. He appeared in just five titles released between 1952 and 1956.


Jean Peters married reclusive millionaire Howard Hughes and didn't appear on screen for nearly 20 years after A Man Called Peter came out in 1955.


Milburn Stone appeared as Doc during Gunsmoke's 20-year run on television.


Thelma Ritter received five Oscar nominations for best supporting actress between 1951 and 1963. She never won. Composer Leigh Harline won an Oscar for best score for Pinocchio.

Panic in the Streets (1950)

Here's an interesting twist.

The original title of Panic in the Streets (Fox Film Noir) was Outbreak.

FOR BETTER FILM, SEE OUTBREAK

Sadly, the 1995 thriller of the same name by director Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot - The Director's Cut) and stars Dustin Hoffman and Morgan Freeman, is a more suspenseful take on the same subject, a plague that can kill.

Still, there are some interesting reasons to watch this 1950 effort from director Elia Kazan (East of Eden, On the Waterfront).

This film noir is definitely more entertaining than his 1947 release, Gentleman's Agreement, which Reel Popcorn Junkie reviewed earlier in 2011.

WELCOME TO THE MOVIES, JACK PALANCE

A big plus is some fine work, in his big screen debut, by Jack Palance (Shane). Palance's Blackie is a violent hoodlum with a permanently itchy finger on his handgun.

Blackie demands his cash back after a recent illegal immigrant to New Orleans, feeling ill, decides to leave a card game early. "I want that money," is Palance's first line. What follows, a nearly silent chase scene along railway tracks and warehouses, is another highlight of this film.

Health inspector Clinton Reed (Richard Widmark) is called in after an autopsy of the now-dead card player. A couple of bullets might have felled him, but something else was well on its way to killing him. Plague.

Reed warns authorities only have 48 hours to find others who had contact with the deceased or the city, and country, risks being overwhelmed by the deadly disease.

Blackie is convinced police interest in the dead man means he brought something valuable into the country. He wants to find the supposed treasure.

Police Capt. Tom Warren (Paul Douglas) isn't so sure of Reed's prognosis. The two clash over how the investigation should be handled. That kind of tension is standard in a thriller. While Douglas gets most of the film's best wisecracks, what makes Reed's character neat to watch is the other job-related pressures he is facing.

THIS DOC HAS SOME PROBLEMS

He's overworked, underpaid and a stranger to his wife, Nancy (Barbara Bel Geddes) and young son. Warren has watched colleagues leave for better-paying jobs with less stress and is starting to wonder if he should follow.

Panic in the Streets doesn't come close to living up to its name. There's a pesky reporter, Neff (Dan Ross), who gets wind of what's happening, but the Big Easy's residents don't have a clue about how close they are to getting wiped out. Neff is locked up by police for fear of inciting panic. Debate the merits of that police action while popping your next batch of popcorn.

Instead, there's just a small number of people working desperately to track down everyone who is infected with the plague.

The ailing include Raymond Fitch (Zero Mostel), a sniveling member of Blackie's posse.

Panic in the Streets features a strong cast and some interesting camera work, but fails to generate much tension about a potentially lethal incident.

RATING: 7/10

FUN FACT: Richard Widmark was nominated for a best supporting Oscar for his debut performance in Kiss of Death.