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.

One might choose to ponder the social messages that this film supposedly contains---witch hunts, HUAC investigations, etc---but I'd recommend that you just sit back and enjoy a terrific, well-plotted and fast-moving film.

Not to ignore any social issues that the film might have intended to address, but you're really spinning yer' wheels over very little if you spend too much time looking for them. True, the innocent black maid is framed for murder (and, indeed, Gar Moore's despicable character even utters the "N" word), but it strikes me as just another compelling element in this very intense drama (and if they wanted to make a big social point, why didn't they hire an actual black actress for the part, I wonder?)

Dan Duryea was born to play the role of Mike Reese; he totally dominates the film, and brilliantly. Gale Storm is pretty and has a nice, simple charm about her, but she's totally out of her league alongside Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Howard da Sylva, and Michael O'Shea.

Speaking of da Sylva's role, several other reviewers have cited his "scenery chewing"; I disagree, and strongly. DaSylva, a first-rate actor, is a model of control: suave, witty, affable...a facade which barely manages to conceal a razor-sharp hostility just beneath the surface. It's a masterful, if fairly brief, performance.

Also, it's fascinating to watch "Underworld Story" and discover why the classic "Night of the Hunter" (1955) looks the way it does. Stanley Cortez's bleak, stylized cinematography adds immensely to the atmosphere of "Underworld", especially the near-expressionistic look of the streets and buildings of the town where most of the action takes place.

"Underworld Story" should be regarded as a stand-out example of classic, late 40-s noir.

Dan Duryea stars as Mike Reese, a big-city newspaperman who is black-balled out of town after publishing a story that helps a mobster rub out an informant. Reese settles in the nearby small town of Lakewood, where he buys a half interest in a newspaper owned by Cathy Harris (Gale Storm). Just as soon as he does, the biggest story to hit Lakewood in decades breaks: the daughter-in-law of E. J. Stanton (Herbert Marshall), the town's wealthiest resident, is found murdered. Reese's experience at bigger papers helps the little operation get the scoop on the out-of-town outfits, but it places Reese and Cathy in the cross-hairs of powers more dangerous than they realize.

A mash-up of newspaper drama, small-town expose, and gangster picture, some of this works, but not a lot. The Reese character is neither helped or hindered by the casting of Duryea: if it was the filmmakers' intention to keep the audience guessing whether or not he was a slime ball at heart or was decent beneath the surface, then Duryea is a good pick, as I still wasn't sure by the end how much of a creep he really was. I say all of this as somebody who is an overall big fan of Dan Duryea. Marshall was awful, turning in an amateur-level performance during his big emotional scenes, although he was never exactly great at that kind of thing. Gale Storm didn't make much of an impression, either. Howard DaSilva has a couple of good scenes as the chief gang boss. This was the final film appearance for Edward Van Sloan, who had been a mainstay in Universal's horror films of the 1930's.

Why 'The Underworld Story'? I guess there are some underworld types present but the emphasis is not on the underworld. It's a story about a newspaper editor who has lost his moral compass and moves to the sticks. This is one very few pictures in which Dan Duryeas' name is above the title, and he does an excellent job. Those of us who count him among our favorite character actors will not be disappointed in his star turn here. Complete with sardonic grin and usual wisecracks, he is in his element as the editor-in-search-of-scruples.

It carries the Warner Bros. patina - a gritty crime melodrama with a mix of social commentary and thick-ear rough stuff, and with a curious collection of supporting characters. Howard Da Silva, Gale Storm, Michael O'Shea and Harry Shannon all do themselves credit and Herbert Marshall(?) also manages to fit in.

This is a good semi-noir. It starts off as one but switches in mid-picture to straight drama and then back again. Only 90" long, it holds your interest throughout. It may not sound promising but sometimes you can't judge a movie by its title.

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.