The Underworld Story

What makes this little crime movie as effective as it is, has something to do with the casting of unconventional Dan Duryea in the lead as the unscrupulous reporter. He's a lot like Willem Dafoe with the way he talks out of the bottom of his mouth - like a ventriloquist's dummy - and I mean that in a good way. Had they cast a more conventional leading man in the part like a Jimmy Stewart, for example, I don't think it would've worked as well, because Duryea really does come across as quite a heel, a low-life. It just isn't clear to the viewer if he should root for him or not, so that when he does undergo a change in character, it comes as a surprise rather than a foregone conclusion.

The movie also provides Howard Da Silva with one of his last roles before he was to be blacklisted for over 10 years. Always good at playing thugs, he's quite colorful and does a lot of scenery chewing as a powerful crime figure.

The script is intelligent and gritty, and the photography is appropriately stark and oppressive.

When the story begins, newspaper man Mike Reese (Dan Duryea) is fired from a big city paper for unethical conduct...conduct that resulted in someone's murder by the local mob boss, Durham (Howard Da Silva). Not surprisingly, he's fired and no one will hire him.

He soon finds himself in a small town and gets himself a job with a tiny, unimportant paper. However, when a rich and very important lady is murdered, he sees it as a chance to make it back to the big time papers. He champions the cause of the woman accused of the murder-- even though he probably doesn't believe in her innocence at all. However, through the course of the film something interesting happens...folks, including Durham, start pressuring Mike to drop the story. So, there must be something to all this and the fix is on...and suddenly the opportunistic and soulless guy is read to risk his life to do what is right! But he might just get himself killed in the process...and folks seem more than ready to oblige.

While this film isn't strictly a traditional film noir picture in some ways, as the plot isn't at all typical of noir, but it sure is noir in spirit. There are many dark and evil characters you'd see in a noir picture and there also is the morally challenged hero. But what's most noir about this film is the camera-work...with camera angles and shadows that you'd find in any decent noir picture.

This film proves that Dan Duryea was a heck of an actor. While he's normally known for playing greasy, pusillanimous jerks, here he has so much more to him and he is a great combination of grit, cynicism and, believe it or not, decency! Overall, a fantastic film that's undergone a recent revival in interest and is now seen by many as a classic. Classic? Yes, I can see that.

Dan Duryea is one of the best actors out there, able to play the slimiest slime-ball and the staunchest of heroes. Here he does a little of both and you're never sure which side he's on. The movie starts as a Noir Crime Thriller, then becomes a 30's-style social drama, then switches back to noir and crime -- but it never loses its style, its verve and its pace. Constantly fun and involving, due to Duryea's movable morals -- and to Stanley Cortez's gorgeous black-and-white cinematography. Director/Writer Endfield does a fine job keeping things going, setting up interesting shots and corralling a cast that's great down to every tiny part. Bad Guy Howard Da Silva chews the scenery with relaxed gusto and is a joy to watch. Highly recommended.

The sleeve on the VHS release of "Underworld Story" calls it "a powerful indictment of sensationalistic journalism." But this very interesting little "B" film's real "powerful indictment" is against the methods of the House Un-American Activities Committee in its search, during the late 1940's and early 1950's, for Communists and fellow travelers in America, especially in the film industry. "Underworld Story" was filmed just after HUAC's hearings of 1949/50 had ended. It was released (1951, through United Artists)as the first of the Hollywood Ten were going off to prison. Both director Cyril Enfield and screenwriter Henry Blankfort were "named" as Communists and both ended up blacklisted (as was actor Howard DaSilva). "Underworld Story" is not mentioned in the various books on the Hollywood blacklist, probably because it was an indie genre picture and lacked the cachet of a big-budget major studio effort. But, make no mistake, "Underworld Story" is a savage indictment of witch hunts, moral ambivalence and racism. All this would be very dry, but "Underworld Story" - although the story is familiar (cad sees the light) - is well plotted, well written, and well acted.

The more I watch classic films, the more I discover what a great year 1950 was in the movie business. Here's another good film, and one many people are probably unfamiliar with. This one revolves around the newspaper business.

Dan Duryea, as usual, is interesting as "Mike Reese," a bad guy-turned-good guy journalist. He is joined in the cast by Herbert Marshall, Gale Storm (one of the great names in show business and who will forever be "My Little Margie" to those of us who were around in the '50s), Howard Da Silva and Michael O'Shea.

Of the above-mentioned, Da Silva was the most fascinating, as the brutal mob boss "Carl Durham." He only had a minor role, but some of his lines were outstanding and his role was memorable. Da Silva was a great actor for film noirs. This isn't really a noir, but it's close. Marshall was just fine as the newspaper owner.

The film was not kind to the newspaper business, so some media-minded film critics (who probably had columns in daily papers) didn't like this film for that reason. Too bad. They should have liked it, since it had Left Wing written all over it, with several Liberal themes and favorite catch-phrases such as "witch hunts" (one of their all-time favorites).

Nonetheless, it's a powerful film and well-acted.