Police vendue à Brooklyn

Apparently based on real events in Brooklyn, what I like about THE CASE AGAINST BROOKLYN is that it feels like an action film throughout, without the moralizing that usually accompanies noir docs. Very competent direction by Paul Wendkos.

Photography by Fred Jackman is first class, sharp dialogue in a gripping script, and solid performances from Darren McGavin (whom I have never rated highly as an actor) and statuesque Margaret Hayes.

It could so easily have gone the way of noir docs that peppered the movies in the 1950 - instead, this film holds its own and has its own personality. Recommended to anyone interested in noir.

It looks like a Don Siegel or Phil Karlson film, but director Paul Wendkos was an effective film maker, finally preferring the TV industry than the big screen one. Excellent, flawless acting, directing, photography. Of course, the topic tells the combat between good guys against the evil ones, the mob. It nearly evokes a pilot of a TV series in the basic plot. And Darren McGavin will also, as Paul Wendkos, prefer the small screen career. This film noir confirms the previous talent shown by Wendkos in THE BURGLAR, another crime film, solid, taut as this one, but for another story. A true good piece of work, solid material for noir gems seekers.

Opine that a film is noir, and the arguments will sprout up like mushrooms in a dark cellar. This gritty little feature, however, should cause contention only among those who designate noir in terms of directors, inclusive years, or other mercenary measures. The plot concerns police corruption, and the protagonist is an unsullied, but savvy rookie cop who is ready and willing to cast sentiment aside and get the goods by hook or crook. The Production Code is cracking, and characters talk of a woman putting out and a good guy's willingness to cheat on his wife. There's no soft soap or sappiness--only an oblique noir world that twists and turns and delivers flashes of light amidst the gloom.

I always say you can't go wrong with Darrin McGavin. He stars here in a very good B movie, The Case Against Brooklyn from 1958. As an added plus, it was directed by Paul Wendkos and is based on the true story of major corruption in the Brooklyn police department.

It's a police procedural, with McGavin going undercover to flush out police on the take in a gambling racket. It was my introduction to the term "horse rooms" where bets are placed on the ponies. It's a huge business, and paying off police is the only way to keep it going.

We see examples of violence against nonpayers. One man kills himself in a truck accident in hoped his wife, Lili (Maggie Hayes) can collect double indemnity insurance.

Lili takes over her husband's parking garage, so McGavin, as Pete Harris, parks his car there and makes a play for her, hoping to get her to talk.

Well done and exciting. Brian Hutton, who became a director, has a small role.

Stumbled on this one today. Plot is very good, very realistic. Always fascinating to see what were once considered glamorous fashiones. The acting is top notch from names one would never consider important. The parts of the characters' lives might have seemed insignificant but here they were given real irony. Very frank 1950s violence . So much more fun to see fists used in unexpected places. All of this on a low budget, the only way film noir can be done.