Blutige Straße

The original title for "Hell on Frisco Bay" was "Hell on the Docks." Apparently, either Warner Bros. or Alan Ladd, whose company, Jaguar, produced the film, thought the title wasn't colorful enough or specific enough about its location, so "Frisco Bay" was substituted just prior to the film's release. I have a few stills with the original title printed on them.

This film, like others produced by Ladd in the 1950s, including Delmer Daves' Western, "Drum Beat," has not appeared on DVD because, according to a Warner Bros Archives Edition executive, the Ladd estate has not permitted its release.

"Drum Beat" just appeared on Turner Classic Movies in its original CinemaScope format, but it was shorter than its published length of 111 minutes by at least four minutes. No US DVD release is imminent.

I nearly forgot this crime film that I have in my library since forty years now, taped off from a French TV channel. It is a great powerful crime flick, pulled by two stars of the gangster film genre. Both were legends the previous decade(s) especially Edward G Robinson, who was a legend even before Alan Ladd. So this Warner film reunites them for the first and only time. That's a pretty good reason not to miss it. The plot is of course overused, predictable at the most, but adapted from a William McGivern's novel. And as an Alan Ladd's vehicle, only William Bendix is missing, he was a long time Alan Ladd's buddy on screen and maybe not only on screen.

In Hell on Frisco Bay Alan Ladd who also produced this film plays an ex-cop who's served five years on a manslaughter rap for which he was wrongly convicted. Of course as in the case of noir films he's on a mission to find the real killer and clear himself.

It doesn't take him long to sniff out a trail that leads to San Francisco underworld boss Edward G. Robinson. Robinson is easily the best in the cast. He's as malevolent as he was in Little Caesar or at least in Key Largo.

It's not that Hell on Frisco Bay is a bad film, but it's all so routine for Alan Ladd. He would not transition into character roles as he hit his forties. His legion fans which were gradually dwindling by this time still wanted their guy in action hero parts.

He's not terribly animated here. I wouldn't have been surprised if he was ill during the making of this. In a way that might have helped the believability factor. Five years in jail would have given him a certain prison pallor to his complexion.

Alan Ladd liked having friends around and the cast here is filled with players who were close personal friends and/or co-workers from his Paramount days. They include, Anthony Caruso, George J. Lewis, Peter Hansen, Perry Lopez, William Demarest. Look for young Rod Taylor as a contract killer and Jayne Mansfield in her screen debut as a bimbo.

Joanne Dru plays the estranged Mrs. Ladd and was probably grateful to be in a modern setting. Paul Stewart gives a memorable performance as Robinson's chief henchman along with his lady love Fay Wray who played a former movie star who was keeping company with Stewart. Their relationship with Robinson is the key to the story.

Cinemascope and noir usually don't mix, but in this case with the final scene being a police chase and fight with speedboats across San Francisco bay, cinemascope helped greatly.

Fans of both Alan Ladd and Edward G. Robinson will enjoy this film.

While most of the territory covered in this film has been covered before in countless movies, still this story of organized crime is very watchable and packed with great dialog and lots of action. In fact, this is very much a Film Noir piece, despite its having been filmed in color. Ladd is great as the angry guy seeking out justice (yes, I know it isn't very much of a stretch) and Edward G. Robinson turns in exactly the type of performance that made him famous (once again, not much of a stretch I know). And, overall, the film is very gritty, entertaining as well as great fun to watch. It does lose a couple points for the lack of originality, but considering how well it is put together, it certainly makes up for much of this.

... this film features Alan Ladd as a bitter ex-cop just released from prison for a killing he didn't commit out to find those behind the murder. A Jaguar Production (Ladd's own company) released through Warner Bros.,

While the story is nothing special and the final resolution quite conventional, this film can be regarded as a well crafted programmer, noteworthy for a superior cast. As Vic Amato, the underworld king who rules the Frisco waterfront, Edward G. Robinson dominates every scene he is in. This film was made at a time when Robinson was having difficulty getting employment in major features due to the blacklisting scare taking place in Hollywood at the time. It's great to see that the actor had lost none of his force as a performer when given a good role.

Paul Stewart gives a sympathetic performance as Amato's gunsel underling, constantly dealing with abuse from his boss who derives sadistic pleasure from riding him about his scarred face and time in the "big house," to which he frequently threatens to return him.

Also in the cast are Joanne Dru, looking quite lovely as Ladd's wife, still in love with him but towards whom he is bitter since she had a brief dalliance due to loneliness during his five year prison confinement, Fay Wray as a retired film star dating Stewart, and William Demarest as a cop who is still a friend of Ladd's. Rod Taylor (billed as Rodney) appears as a hood, as well as, both unbilled, one star from the past, Mae Marsh (once a D. W. Griffith heroine) and one of the very near future (Jayne Mansfield).

This film was a reunion for Ladd with director Frank Tuttle, the man who had been behind the camera for This Gun for Hire, the film that had made the blonde actor a star 13 years before.

Many of the outdoor shots were clearly done on location in San Francisco. It's nice to see those hilly roads, with the bay glistening in the background, adding authenticity to the film. Max Steiner also provides the film with one of his typically strong scores, music that can make an ordinary film somehow seem better than it really is.

I've always had a soft spot for Hell on Frisco Bay. There's a comforting familiarity to this kind of tough guy action drama which, combined with Robinson's outstanding performance as an old time ruthless gang boss, makes this film definitely worth a view. It's nice that the film has finally become available on DVD via the Warner Archive.