La città del terrore

There must have been a sale on this storyline back in the 40's. An epidemic threatens New York (it's always New York) and nobody takes it seriously. Some might say that Richard Widmark and Jack Palance did it better in Panic in the Streets, but I disagree.

There is always something about these Poverty Row productions that really touch a nerve. The production values are never that polished and the acting is a little rough around the edges, but that is the very reason I think this movie and those like it are effective. Rough, grainy, edgy. And the cast. All 2nd stringers or A list actors past their prime. No egos here. These folks were happy to get the work. Whit Bissell, Carl Benton Reid, Jim Backus, Arthur Space, Charles Korvin, and the melodious voice of Reed Hadley flowing in the background like crude oil. By the way, I've been in the hospital a couple of times; how come my nurses never looked like Dorothy Malone? In these kind of movies they don't bother much with make-up and hair, but they really managed to turn Evelyn Keyes into a hag. Or maybe they just skipped the make-up and hair altogether. Anyway, it was pretty effective. She plays a lovesick jewel smuggler who picks up a case of Small Pox in Cuba while smuggling jewels back for ultra-villain Charles Korvin (who is boffing her sister in the meantime). You got the Customs Agents looking for her because of the jewels, and the Health Department looking for her because she's about to de-populate New York. No 4th Amendment rights here. Everybody gets hassled.

You gotta have the right attitude to enjoy a movie like this. I have a brother who scrutinizes movies to death. If they don't hold up to his Orson Wellian standards, he bombs them unmercifully. They must have the directorial excellence of a David Lean movie, the score of Wolfgang von Korngold, the Sound and Art of Douglas Shearer and Cedric Gibbons respectively. This ain't it.

But I have the right attitude, and if you do as well, you'll love this movie.

THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK is small pox. The woman who has it is EVELYN KEYES, whose bleached blonde hair and harsh unflattering make-up makes her look a far cry from the cutie she played in THE JOLSON STORY. She gives a chilling performance as a woman stiffed by her boyfriend (CHARLES KORVIN), both of them diamond smugglers unaware that in Cuba she picked up the deadly smallpox disease.

The good supporting cast includes WILLIAM BISHOP, WHIT BISSELL, RICHARD EGAN, DOROTHY MALONE, LOLA ALBRIGHT, and JIM BACKUS. It's photographed in film noir documentary style with voice-over narration, as many films of the '40s and '50s were--similar, in fact, to PANIC IN THE STREETS, another thriller with Jack Palance as the deadly carrier.

It's fast paced, with never a wasted moment of time in telling a story that runs one hour and nineteen minutes. Miss Keyes demonstrates that she was a much more talented actress than anyone ever suspected, with hidden depths in her portrait of a vengeful woman.

Well worth watching.

Pretty hard to mix noir with a smallpox epidemic, but ace screenwriter Essex makes a go of it. That's thanks to weaving gem smuggler Sheila's (Keyes) personal story with the other thing she smuggled in, namely smallpox. So, as she travels around New York, so does the disease, causing a major urban crisis. As a result, we watch her get sicker and sicker chasing after a faithless boyfriend (Korvin); at the same time, the city comes more and more unglued chasing after her.

I love those nighttime street shots of Manhattan. Cameraman Biroc does an eye-catching job translating those into a noirish atmosphere that hangs like a death shroud over the city. How appropriate. And catch that great supporting cast of one familiar face after another adding a ton of character color. I'm just sorry the gorgeous Dorothy Malone wasn't given more to do than follow Dr. Wood (Bishop) around with a hypodermic needle. Then too, I hope glamour girl Keyes was paid double because she sure looks a wreck by movie's end.

Mark this one down as one more entry in the 1950's paranoia race. If it's not the Russian commies or some radioactive mutant or hideous space aliens, it's a deadly pandemic that threatened us all. It's a wonder we geezers survived. But that's okay, because the paranoia makes for exciting movie fare, including this nifty number. Meanwhile, I'm off to where else- - to get vaccinated, of course.

In this crackerjack noir thriller from Columbia which is a combination of Panic In The Streets and The Naked City, Evelyn Keyes is unknowingly The Killer That Stalked New York. Evelyn who smuggled some stolen jewels into the country from Cuba also smuggled in smallpox. It gets misdiagnosed by doctor William Bishop and when they do find out what it is the hunt is on for her.

For most of the film the Treasury Department is also hunting Keyes, but for the smuggled jewels. It's not until nearly the end of the film that the health department and law enforcement realize they're looking for the same woman.

Evelyn's on a mission also. Her husband Charles Korvin has left her flat, the unkindest cut of all being that he was fooling around with her sister while she was in Cuba collecting the gems and contracting smallpox. When Lola Albright as her sister commits suicide over the whole affair, Evelyn's on a mission, get Korvin or die trying. And that's not an idle threat given the situation.

The film was mostly shot in New York like The Naked City and its cast is sprinkled liberally with a lot of familiar names and faces. Keep an eye out for good performances by Connie Gilchrist as Evelyn's unsympathetic landlady, Jim Backus as a shifty club owner, and Art Smith as Korvin's fence.

A real sleeper in the noir category, don't miss it if broadcast.

I caught this movie late at night on the Encore Mystery Channel. There was never a dull moment. The plot was plausible, the acting very good, and the photography great! I find it "amazing" how the scripts and dialogues were so often more intelligible back in the "good old days" of movies. There was not the incessant obscene and crude language that pervades most of today's films. The pacing was right on and the ending suspenseful. I only wish I could purchase it. Oh, by the way, am I the only one bored by the never ending credits? They seem almost as long as the movie. Does anyone, besides mommy or daddy, really care who the movie's caterer or grip was? With the above out of my system, if you get the chance, see this flick. It is a winner.