Colère noire

A film noir shot in colour, in cinemascope, with scenes set mostly outdoors during daylight hours, and making ample use of San Francisco's picturesque landscape, starts out with several counts against it.

But contravention of most if not all of the conventions of the noir genre is the least of this movie's problems.

The biggest drag on the story is its star. Alan Ladd strolls through the plot like a Californian Redwood on legs. If it weren't a clash of materials, it would not be unfair to characterise his woodenness as robotic. There's not an ounce of enthusiasm or conviction in his performance as Steve Rollins, an ex-cop wrongly convicted of manslaughter, who leaves jail vowing vengeance on the gangsters who framed him.

Ridiculously attired in a linen suit that never creases or stains despite several bare knuckle dust ups, he fearlessly provokes corrupt waterfront boss Victor Amato (Edward G Robinson) into a showdown that can only result in death or victory.

Along the way, just to demonstrate what a straight-up, honorable guy he is, Rollins rebuffs his wife (Joanne Dru) for a moment of weakness while he was in jail (but only after he'd refused to let her visit him for three years) and comes to the aid of a nightclub singer (Fay Wray) whose life Amato is threatening. All of which Ladd achieves without once moving a facial muscle.

So thank god for Edward G.Robinson! He singlehandedly saves HELL ON FRISCO BAY with a performance that is considerably better than the film deserves. Robinson's career was in a slump in 1955, mostly as a result of the anti-communist blacklist, and he was no longer getting A-list parts, but he never stopped giving his best to whatever work came his way. He's as great here as he was in 'Little Caesar' and 'Key Largo.' His Victor Amato is a fully-rounded, believable and disturbing character, a psychopath who can charm the parish priest one moment and order the murder of his own nephew the next. When Robinson's on screen it's almost possible to forget he's inhabiting the same story as dreary lifeless Alan Ladd.

Credit is also due to Paul Stewart who makes the most of his underwritten part as Amato's put-upon right hand man, and watch out for an uncredited but instantly recognisable Jayne Mansfield in her last bit part before exploding into America's consciousness with 'The Girl Can't Help It' a few months later.

HELL ON FRISCO BAY is a decidedly mediocre tale but a fine example of an actor proving himself better than the material he's given to work with. Watch this and you may well be put off Alan Ladd for life but you'll definitely want another serving of the wonderful Edward G Robinson.

Read more of my reviews at http://thefilmivejustseen.blogspot.com/

... 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.

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.

Edward G Robinson dismissed this one with a passing comment in his autobiography and it's not hard to see why. He exudes menace in the classic 'Little Caesar' manner and his interplay with the underrated Paul Stewart does have a touch of real quality. However, Cinemascope is not a process designed for urban thrillers and the wide open spaces rob the film of any sense of tension or claustrophobia. The greatest weakness, however, lies in Ladd's robotic performance. His boredom is evident throughout and the lacklustre supporting cast do little to help. In the end Robinson is left out on his own, gat in hand, the true professional giving it all he's got.

This film offers a lot of potential. The cast features Robinson and Ladd, the city in the background is a great one and the plot offers us murder, conspiracy, betrayal, infidelity and revenge. So why is it so very pedestrian from start to finish? I'm not totally sure as to the why but I have little doubt this is the case since the film really crawled across my screen, offering very little to make me sit up and take notice at any point. The problems for me are several but they are mostly intertwined to create one central problem which is that the film really lacks atmosphere and tension.

The most obvious cause of this is the setting and the delivery. San Francisco is a beautiful city and one filled with coolness; it isn't the best backdrop for a tough noir-esque film. The film delivers the city in full color with lots of space and vibrancy and this doesn't help the tone of the film. This isn't to say that such a film can't be set in such a place, but if it does then it needs to create an atmosphere another way – setting it in gritty urban decay would have helped but it isn't necessary if ou deliver with plot, performances and other ways to make atmosphere. Sadly this film doesn't. In terms of characters they are flat and the performances match this. Ladd is supposed to be bitter and driven by rage but never looks more annoyed than someone who has misplaced their car keys. He really sleeps through this and even in the "dramatic" conclusion, his face is more emotionless than Steven Seagal. Robinson does his thing but without anything much to work with, so he is only his usual style, nothing special. The rest of the cast have some good turns but generally the pace is set by the leads – and the pace is slow.

This really hurts the atmosphere and I never felt anything other than a general plod through a plot which didn't have anything to it. The bright color and space of the film doesn't help, but the lackluster performances and lack of general tension or atmosphere do more damage again.