Chicago Syndicate

There's little in the late noir Chicago Syndicate that hadn't already been done, and more memorably, in the cycle, but, given the limitations of its director and cast, it does its job. When a renegade syndicate bookkeeper is gunned down on a crowded street in broad daylight (incidentally triggering his wife's suicide), federal agents enlist Dennis O'Keefe, a forensic accountant working for the police, to infiltrate the underworld. In no time he's won the trust of boss Paul Stewart (whose start in movies was in Citizen Kane, as Raymond the sinister butler). Stewart idolizes his mother, who refuses to budge from his tough old neighborhood. But apparently she's the exception that tests his misogynistic rule (`Everything gets better with age, except women,' he observes).

He's right to be wary, because women hold the tools to destroy him. His current trophy (Abbe Lane), who sings with bandleader Xavier Cugat in mob night spots, drinks too much and endures humiliation and beatings at his hands. But even an attempt to `scare the girdle off her' fails, as she holds incriminating microfilm, stashed away as her insurance policy. Her rival for his attentions (Allison Hayes) has a secret agenda: she's the orphaned daughter of the slain bookkeeper, nursing a vendetta. When she thinks O'Keefe can grease her way to the top, she throws herself at him (`Now you're romancing me like I was Liberace,' he puzzlingly tells her.) She becomes his helpmate – and decoy.

In the style of the syndicate movies of the 1950s, in the wake of the Kefauver hearings on organized crime, there's an emphasis on the complex corporate structure of Stewart's illegal business operations. Too much exposition, however, is left to voice-over narration. And while the movie doesn't shy away from ugly incident, it's quite devoid of the atmospheric dread that distinguished, for instance, Fritz Lang's The Big Heat. O'Keefe, too, seems to have aged more than the eight years separating this movie from his similar role in Anthony Mann's T-Men, making it less of a surprise that his first movie role was in 1930. Chicago Syndicate holds interest less for its own sake than as evidence of how the noir cycle was running down, if not quite out; the same year offered Joseph H. Lewis' brilliant take on much the same territory, The Big Combo.

Has anyone else noticed that Charles Lane appears with his back to the camera in the scene where Paul Stewart warns his syndicate partners about not cheating him? The voice also seems to be his. He doesn't show up anywhere else in the film. I have not been able to find him associated with it on any credit listings, including the abbreviated IMDb cast list. I thought this was a pretty good genre film. It's always nice to see Paul Stewart in a bigger role. Don't recall ever seeing Abbe Lane in a film before. I really thought she was better than the other female lead, despite having less to do. Although her acting ability cannot really be assessed from this single role, I am surprised she did not have a lengthier career.

This is a great little crime movie. It has a truly sleazy feel and is very well directed. Fred Sears! That guy knew how to turn out these trashy but effective crime exposes! Dennis O'Keefe, who seems a little down-at-the heels, is the lead. He goes undercover to blow the lid off a syndicate run by mama's boy Paul Stewart. With his eyes sunken and dark, Stewart is a highly effective villain (albeit a suave one.) His current girlfriend sings at a club he runs. We hear her sing, and she is pretty darn good. That's because she's played by Abbe Lane. Lane had a good vocal style and she knew how to be sewn into a glamorous dress. Real-life husband Xaviar Cugat is on-hand, too: He's her band-leader and is pining after her.

Though she gets lower billing, the main female is really Allison Hayes. Yes: The star of the immortal "Attack of the 50-Foot Woman." Hayes does a fine job. She's an interesting presence: She looks like a meaner version of Jane Russell.

The only distracting part of the movie is the O'Keefe character's name: Barry Amsterdam. It kept reminding me of a certain comic on a classic TV show about writers for a TV comedy ...

O'Keefe had the goods, though. He is one of the best of all noir actors.

Nothing happens in this rather bleak and sordid noir about Chicago gangsters, until Alison Hayes pulls the gun in the middle of the film, and then the action starts, amounting to rather interesting proportions. Dennis O'Keefe is no William Holden, who would have been the right actor for this role - Dennis is too fidgety. Paul Stewart on the other hand is perfect for his character, and the other ladies are good as well, Abbe Lane as the night club primadonna in decline with a catch on the boss, and his mother. The best scenes are with these women, while it is Alison Hayes who runs the show from half way on. The finale approaches the depths of "The Third Man".

So although you yawn and look for something else to do meanwhile during the first half of the film, the second half must have all your attention. The dialog is riveting and splendid all the way, even Xavier Cugat gets a role to play and not only instruments, so it's after all a film well worth seeing.

I saw the show on Turner Classic Movies. The plot was entertaining. It kicks off with a murder of a mob accountant who gave inside info to a newspaper man (the "Syndicate" didn't like that.) The newsman then gets some leading Chicago people plus lawmen together to try to "break the Syndicate wide open." They persuade Barry Amsterdam (Dennis O'Keefe), an aspiring accountant dreaming of starting his own business, to infiltrate the mob and get the lowdown on the crooks. He ends up doing an amazing job, for an accountant! But the use of real street scenes is what made this a very interesting movie for a Chicago history buff like me. You can see many downtown locations (theaters, buildings, bridges, rivers, street signs), era shots (men in hats, big cars, 50s trains & buses) and dialog about real places (Halsted, Ohio, The Palmer House, Maxwell Street). Lot's of fun!