43 reviews
One of the Best Noirs Available
This is a really dark movie. Noir indeed. The title character is smallpox, brought into New York City unknowingly by Evelyn Keyes.
She is on one mission when she arrives and on a rougher one after she's spoken to her no longer innocent sister. But she herself is not intentionally a killer. This doesn't mean she doesn't kill. It doesn't mean her presence somewhere among eight million other people doesn't throw the city into turmoil.
Keyes is excellent. The supporting cast is very good too. There are several little-known people involved in this -- the director included. Don't be put off. It is a movie to be reckoned with! (And how nice to see a Columbia picture. Columbia and Republic turned out wonderful comedies and noirs; yet we hardly ever see them anymore.)
She is on one mission when she arrives and on a rougher one after she's spoken to her no longer innocent sister. But she herself is not intentionally a killer. This doesn't mean she doesn't kill. It doesn't mean her presence somewhere among eight million other people doesn't throw the city into turmoil.
Keyes is excellent. The supporting cast is very good too. There are several little-known people involved in this -- the director included. Don't be put off. It is a movie to be reckoned with! (And how nice to see a Columbia picture. Columbia and Republic turned out wonderful comedies and noirs; yet we hardly ever see them anymore.)
- Handlinghandel
- Nov 5, 2006
- Permalink
A killer from the past strikes in the present
(Some Spoilers) Sweeping into New York City on a first-class railroad car a killer who doesn't kill with a gun or knife or club but just with his,or it's, touch and breath. A killer that's as old, or even older, then man himself. That killer has a name it's know the world over as smallpox.
Arriving in New York one cold November afternoon the killer hidden inside of Sheila Bennet, Evelyn Keyes, and like a Trojen Horse it waits until the opportunity presents itself. Then like a ticking time bomb with it's fuse set off explodes throughout the length and breath of the city.
Sheila knows that she's being followed by a U.S Customs officer who's been on her tail since she came back to the US from the Island nation of Cuba. Having smuggled $50,000.00 of illegal uncut diamonds she had to be careful in getting them to her husband Matt, Charles Korvin, to be cut and sold to unsuspecting jewelers in the city.
Mailing the diamonds ahead of time Sheila knows that if caught the diamonds won't be found on her. What she doesn't know is that Matt is two timing her by having an affair with her kid sister Francie, Lola Albrght. Even worse he plans to check out of town with the diamonds leaving her as well as Francie holding the bag.
Even though we know right from the start of Sheila's deathly condition it doesn't really come to the surface until much later in the movie.The first half of "The Killer that stalked New York" is a crime suspense/drama with the U.S Customs officials and NYC police looking for the stolen diamonds. As Sheila starts to get sick and begins to infect everyone whom she comes in contact with the film reaches the point of a mass panic in the streets type horror movie.
Both the police and custom officials together with members of the city's Health Depertment race against the clock to find Sheila before she infects the entire city of New York with the deadly smallpox infection that she's carrying. Sheila finding out from Matt's boss Willie Dennis,Jim Backus,that he quit his job as a nightclub piano player and that he was having an affair with Francie shocks her into the realization to what a heel he is.
Confronting Francie at her apartment it turns out that Matt not only stiffed Shelia but her sister as well. Which later leads the guilt-ridden Francie to take her own life. On the run and not knowing that she's infected with smallpox Sheila goes to her brother Sid (With Bissell),who manages a flop-house on the Bowery, to find a place to stay. Only too late does Sheila, and Sid, find out the the stolen diamonds is the last of her problems. Knowing that she's dying Sheila goes to the office of jeweler Arnold Moss, Art Smith, knowing that sleaze-ball of a husband Matt, who ended up beating old man Moss into a bloody pulp, is going to be there to exact vengeance on him.
Doucmentry-type drama, based on a true story, with striking black and white on-location photography makes this movie about the horrors of unseen and deadly smallpox unleashed on a unsuspecting public well worth watching.
Arriving in New York one cold November afternoon the killer hidden inside of Sheila Bennet, Evelyn Keyes, and like a Trojen Horse it waits until the opportunity presents itself. Then like a ticking time bomb with it's fuse set off explodes throughout the length and breath of the city.
Sheila knows that she's being followed by a U.S Customs officer who's been on her tail since she came back to the US from the Island nation of Cuba. Having smuggled $50,000.00 of illegal uncut diamonds she had to be careful in getting them to her husband Matt, Charles Korvin, to be cut and sold to unsuspecting jewelers in the city.
Mailing the diamonds ahead of time Sheila knows that if caught the diamonds won't be found on her. What she doesn't know is that Matt is two timing her by having an affair with her kid sister Francie, Lola Albrght. Even worse he plans to check out of town with the diamonds leaving her as well as Francie holding the bag.
Even though we know right from the start of Sheila's deathly condition it doesn't really come to the surface until much later in the movie.The first half of "The Killer that stalked New York" is a crime suspense/drama with the U.S Customs officials and NYC police looking for the stolen diamonds. As Sheila starts to get sick and begins to infect everyone whom she comes in contact with the film reaches the point of a mass panic in the streets type horror movie.
Both the police and custom officials together with members of the city's Health Depertment race against the clock to find Sheila before she infects the entire city of New York with the deadly smallpox infection that she's carrying. Sheila finding out from Matt's boss Willie Dennis,Jim Backus,that he quit his job as a nightclub piano player and that he was having an affair with Francie shocks her into the realization to what a heel he is.
Confronting Francie at her apartment it turns out that Matt not only stiffed Shelia but her sister as well. Which later leads the guilt-ridden Francie to take her own life. On the run and not knowing that she's infected with smallpox Sheila goes to her brother Sid (With Bissell),who manages a flop-house on the Bowery, to find a place to stay. Only too late does Sheila, and Sid, find out the the stolen diamonds is the last of her problems. Knowing that she's dying Sheila goes to the office of jeweler Arnold Moss, Art Smith, knowing that sleaze-ball of a husband Matt, who ended up beating old man Moss into a bloody pulp, is going to be there to exact vengeance on him.
Doucmentry-type drama, based on a true story, with striking black and white on-location photography makes this movie about the horrors of unseen and deadly smallpox unleashed on a unsuspecting public well worth watching.
Evelyn Keyes shines as small pox victim...
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.
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.
Typical potboiler but with eerie parallels to today...
This film about a woman who returns from Cuba to New York City with both smuggled diamonds and smallpox is a fairly typical film-noirish melodrama of the late 40's/early 50's. Will the police and Health Department officials find her in time to save NYC from an epidemic? The film has all the elements one expects from this type of film: great black and white cinematography, romantic subplots, over-the-top shady characters (one played by Jim Backus, "Mr. Howell" of "Gilligan's Island" fame) and too-good-to-be-true good guys, and great New York locations. It also has a hammy narration and some corny dialogue, but it is a fairly suspenseful and generally fun way to spend 75 minutes.
However, the situation which probably seemed like far-fetched (but plausible) fiction in 1950, seems frighteningly possible today. The anthrax attacks of 2001, the fears of weaponized smallpox being used by terrorists, the concerns about vaccinations and the amount and safety of vaccines, the inability of governmental agencies to work together and share information effectively all come to mind when one watches this film. This gives it a bit more resonance today than other more dated noirish "chase" films of the same era.
Overall, only a pretty good film but definitely worth a watch for the subject matter and its relevance to today's fears about bio-terrorism.
However, the situation which probably seemed like far-fetched (but plausible) fiction in 1950, seems frighteningly possible today. The anthrax attacks of 2001, the fears of weaponized smallpox being used by terrorists, the concerns about vaccinations and the amount and safety of vaccines, the inability of governmental agencies to work together and share information effectively all come to mind when one watches this film. This gives it a bit more resonance today than other more dated noirish "chase" films of the same era.
Overall, only a pretty good film but definitely worth a watch for the subject matter and its relevance to today's fears about bio-terrorism.
Today's headline 70 years later.
Sheila Bennet (Evelyn Keyes) is hot. She's just arrived from Cuba with some smuggled diamonds and a federal agent is shadowing her. She also has a fever from the small pox she is carrying onto the docks of New York.
With the country presently in the mist of a viral outbreak that has the entire state under quarantine and the country on full alert The Killer that Stalked New York is as pertinent today as it was when it was released in 1950. Based upon an outbreak in Queens that took place in 1947 it is given a felonious back story with a sleazy rogues gallery of marginals making the outbreak that much more slippery to contain.
Similar in theme and topic to the earlier released that year Panic in the Streets, it lacks the polish and form of the Kazan as it takes on a documentary feel at times but it does boast a fine performance from the desperate Keyes while Charles Korvin makes for a loathsome villain.
With the country presently in the mist of a viral outbreak that has the entire state under quarantine and the country on full alert The Killer that Stalked New York is as pertinent today as it was when it was released in 1950. Based upon an outbreak in Queens that took place in 1947 it is given a felonious back story with a sleazy rogues gallery of marginals making the outbreak that much more slippery to contain.
Similar in theme and topic to the earlier released that year Panic in the Streets, it lacks the polish and form of the Kazan as it takes on a documentary feel at times but it does boast a fine performance from the desperate Keyes while Charles Korvin makes for a loathsome villain.
Typhoid Evelyn Carries The Pox
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.
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.
- bkoganbing
- Jan 1, 2009
- Permalink
The Many Ironies of Modern Urban Epidemiology
Robert Osborne, in introducing this movie to the Turner Classic Movie audience for the first time tonight, says that Columbia had to sit on the movie for about 6 months in order to let the similarly-plotted "Panic in the Streets" play out and leave the theaters. What we have then is a gritty, somewhat newsreel sounding (and looking) film whose narrator walks us through all the ironies of modern urban epidemiology. Worth noting, though, are the few scenes out in the street where the tragic couple lives. There's just enough street noise and confusion to make the scenes as claustrophobic as possible, while still being somehow life-affirming. Otherwise, it's a fine B noir plot with a lot of character and muscle, and cinematography to take off your hat to. Not to mention that hot kid sister -- hubba, hubba!
- barnesgene
- Sep 19, 2007
- Permalink
Evelyn Keyes as Typhoid Mary
Evelyn Keyes is a diamond smuggler who smuggles in death in the form of smallpox in "The Killer that Stalked New York," a 1950 noir also starring Charles Korvin, William Bishop, Jim Backus, Dorothy Malone, Lola Albright, and Ludwig Donath.
Keyes plays Sheila Bennet, who mails diamonds back to her cheating husband (Korvin) from Cuba, and then returns to him in New York. Unfortunately, he's involved with Sheila's sister (Albright), so he sends her to a hotel. Feeling ill, she seeks medical care from a doctor (Bishop). In the waiting room, she meets a little girl who later develops smallpox. Sheila was incorrectly diagnosed and is now spreading the disease all over town while the city attempts to find the carrier.
This is a kind of B version of "Panic in the Streets" and not as good, but it is an effective noir with a fine performance by Keyes as a desperate woman with a will to keep going no matter what.
Though Keyes was good-looking and talented, her off-screen exploits with the men in her life, as well as her opinions of Hollywood, are more well-known than her film roles, which were mostly in B movies. The great irony of her career is that she's best known for her smallest role, Suellen O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind." "The Killer that Stalked New York" is a good showcase of her abilities.
Keyes plays Sheila Bennet, who mails diamonds back to her cheating husband (Korvin) from Cuba, and then returns to him in New York. Unfortunately, he's involved with Sheila's sister (Albright), so he sends her to a hotel. Feeling ill, she seeks medical care from a doctor (Bishop). In the waiting room, she meets a little girl who later develops smallpox. Sheila was incorrectly diagnosed and is now spreading the disease all over town while the city attempts to find the carrier.
This is a kind of B version of "Panic in the Streets" and not as good, but it is an effective noir with a fine performance by Keyes as a desperate woman with a will to keep going no matter what.
Though Keyes was good-looking and talented, her off-screen exploits with the men in her life, as well as her opinions of Hollywood, are more well-known than her film roles, which were mostly in B movies. The great irony of her career is that she's best known for her smallest role, Suellen O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind." "The Killer that Stalked New York" is a good showcase of her abilities.
Much better than expected!!
Evelyn Keyes does her best work ever. A fine film that should be much better known! Great New York location and docu style filming. Good story, supporting cast, and not an ounce of fat on the script!!
- hennystruijk
- Nov 13, 2019
- Permalink
A FILM FOR THESE TIMES...!
A 1950 offbeat film noir dealing w/a vitally topical subject as a woman who smuggles diamonds from Cuba unwittingly also brings into New York a contagious case of small pox. Our heroine, played Evelyn Keyes, brings the goods into the US w/the law on her heels but she seems off as a mysterious ailment dogs her. She puts in a call to her deadbeat hubby (who's shacking up w/her sister) who cautions her to stay at a hotel before they can make contact. On her way out of the hotel, she nearly faints on the street & is brought to a local medical clinic where she's given some meds but not before hugging a girl thus starting the domino chain of doom. Equal parts a woman going through the extremes to rid the bad out of her life & a procedural to find patient zero, this film could not be more timely as it depicts the aftereffects of an outbreak & the sane, methodical ways a municipality will go to insure the wellness of all. One only wishes this film was a harbinger for a time that would never be but if you're following the news, you know better. Also starring Dorothy Malone as a nurse, Whit Bissell as Keyes' brother & an uncredited Jim Backus (Thurston Howell the Third himself) as Keyes' old nightclub boss.
Muddled
A woman unwittingly carries smallpox into New York with the diamonds she's smuggled, thus setting off a frantic search for the source of an outbreak. It's an interesting premise, but unfortunately the acting and script are weak, and in muddling the crime and medical dramas, the film does poorly on each. In a strange way, about halfway in it also segues into what seems like a public service announcement for vaccinations. Hey I'm all for 'em and realize the mass vaccination was based on real events New York in 1947, but the jaunty narration that seems straight out of a newsreel just doesn't work here. This is one to skip.
- gbill-74877
- Feb 1, 2019
- Permalink
Interesting tale of smallpox carrier
From 1950 comes a neat thriller about a couple smuggling diamonds from abroad and also the contagious disease smallpox. Evelyn Keyes pulls out all stops as the essential victim of this film-noir. Once back in the United States she is not aware that she could be spreading the disease on everyone and everything she comes in contact with. Eventually she is pursued and must be stopped before an epidemic occurs. Other than Keyes striking performance there is good support from villainous Charles Korvin, William Bishop, Dorothy Malone, Lola Albright and Whit Bissell. The finale is a humdinger with Miss Keyes on the ledge of a building with spotlights and hundreds of spectators below. A good B flick!
The Killer That Stalked New York. Its name? Sheila Bennet!
The Killer That Stalked New York (AKA: Frightened City) is directed by Earl McEvoy and adapted to screenplay by Harry Essex from a story by Milton Lehman. It stars Evelyn Keyes, Charles Korvin, William Bishop, Dorothy Malone and Lola Albright. Music is by Hans Salter and cinematography by Joseph Biroc.
As the Police search for a diamond smuggler flown in from Cuba, doctors frantically trawl through an unprotected New York for a smallpox carrier, unaware that it is in fact the same person.
The Blonde Death!
Based on a real life incident the year previously, The Killer That Stalked New York is a very efficient thriller that has earned the right to be viewed now on its own terms. Comparisons are inevitably drawn with Panic in the Streets, the Elia Kazan film from the same year that deals in the same premise as here, but don't let anybody try and convince you otherwise, McEvoy's movie isn't in the same class. There is a reason Columbia Pictures delayed the release of "Killer" for six months. That said...
It's a tautly constructed movie by McEvoy, decently performed by the cast (Keyes especially impressive carrying the film) and the documentary like approach to the piece works very much in its favour; even if Reed Hadley's stentorian narration is rather intrusive to the escalating drama. Bonus as well comes from having Biroc on photography duties, it's not so much about chiaroscuro techniques, in fact we don't really see the best noir visuals until the last fifteen minutes, but more about dripping a foreboding atmosphere over the New York City locales. As poor Sheila stumbles through the city, her alienation and disorientation is deftly brought out of the screen by the one time Oscar winner (The Towering Inferno).
The race against time medical aspects of the drama hold the attention span well, we are constantly wondering who is going to succumb to "the blonde death" next? Though this core theme of the picture comes at the cost of narrative intrigue elsewhere, for instance there's infidelity in the mix involving our leading lady, but it barely registers and poor Lola Albright, playing a character of much potential, gets shunted out the way to be replaced by some more medical peril announced by Hadley's public service voice! As efficient as the film is, and it's easily recommended to the noir crowd, much more could have been made of this story.
B picture by name, B picture by nature, but hugely enjoyable in that sweaty time filling way. 6.5/10
As the Police search for a diamond smuggler flown in from Cuba, doctors frantically trawl through an unprotected New York for a smallpox carrier, unaware that it is in fact the same person.
The Blonde Death!
Based on a real life incident the year previously, The Killer That Stalked New York is a very efficient thriller that has earned the right to be viewed now on its own terms. Comparisons are inevitably drawn with Panic in the Streets, the Elia Kazan film from the same year that deals in the same premise as here, but don't let anybody try and convince you otherwise, McEvoy's movie isn't in the same class. There is a reason Columbia Pictures delayed the release of "Killer" for six months. That said...
It's a tautly constructed movie by McEvoy, decently performed by the cast (Keyes especially impressive carrying the film) and the documentary like approach to the piece works very much in its favour; even if Reed Hadley's stentorian narration is rather intrusive to the escalating drama. Bonus as well comes from having Biroc on photography duties, it's not so much about chiaroscuro techniques, in fact we don't really see the best noir visuals until the last fifteen minutes, but more about dripping a foreboding atmosphere over the New York City locales. As poor Sheila stumbles through the city, her alienation and disorientation is deftly brought out of the screen by the one time Oscar winner (The Towering Inferno).
The race against time medical aspects of the drama hold the attention span well, we are constantly wondering who is going to succumb to "the blonde death" next? Though this core theme of the picture comes at the cost of narrative intrigue elsewhere, for instance there's infidelity in the mix involving our leading lady, but it barely registers and poor Lola Albright, playing a character of much potential, gets shunted out the way to be replaced by some more medical peril announced by Hadley's public service voice! As efficient as the film is, and it's easily recommended to the noir crowd, much more could have been made of this story.
B picture by name, B picture by nature, but hugely enjoyable in that sweaty time filling way. 6.5/10
- hitchcockthelegend
- Feb 26, 2013
- Permalink
The Blonde Death
Along with "Panic in the Streets," "The Killer That Stalked New York" is another film from 1950 Hollywood about the search for a murderous carrier of disease--in this case, smallpox. It becomes clear early on that this B-picture is the lesser of the two films. It's attempts at noir stylization tend to be hamfisted. The narrator isn't a character and is generally pointless, if not annoying. The entire criminal subplot involving betrayal, a love triangle and smuggled diamonds isn't intriguing. That the blonde femme fatale is literally and unintentionally killing people by carrying, unbeknownst to her, smallpox is an unfortunately kind of an amusing twist on the trope. Moreover, the doctors' surprised reactions to smallpox appearing in New York would verge on the laughable, as they repeatedly exclaim shock at the prospect that such a then-still-not-eradicated disease could be found in their civilized sphere of the world, if it didn't seem prescient given today's real-world pandemic and its effects on the city, or had there not actually been a smallpox outbreak and mass vaccination program in New York in 1947. Much of the movie merely plays out like an advertisement for vaccinations. It figures, too, that for all the characters' fears of the death toll the disease will wrought, the only character that we actually see die from it--and not only hear about--is a Black man.
- Cineanalyst
- May 7, 2020
- Permalink
An Exciting Movie
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.
Solid B documentary style film
THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK is a documentary with an interesting tale, action, and a trove of information that remains useful to-date.
Evelyn Keyes plays a woman who, head over heels in love with hubby and criminal Korvin, goes to Cuba to pick up diamonds that Korvin would then sell on the black market. Problem is, she also picks up smallpox during her visit to Havana, and she is now spreading the disease around NY. To compound matters, she finds out that he is actually two-timing with her sister, all the while unaware that she is the carrier of the deadly virus.
In a docu-style film, acting need not be of the highest caliber, and it is certainly not so here, but it is directed with honesty, intelligence, and verve, and I was riveted throughout, despite the occasional (minor) flaw.
It is also enlightening to compare the world of 1947 with today's. And how far we have come in terms of medical care, and yet how mankind still remains so vulnerable to plagues, particularly in a world where natural disasters are bound to become increasingly frequent, with all the attendant consequences.
PS - We have all now witnessed the destruction wrought by the Corona virus, and nature warns us every day that we are all damaging our planet beyond repair.
Evelyn Keyes plays a woman who, head over heels in love with hubby and criminal Korvin, goes to Cuba to pick up diamonds that Korvin would then sell on the black market. Problem is, she also picks up smallpox during her visit to Havana, and she is now spreading the disease around NY. To compound matters, she finds out that he is actually two-timing with her sister, all the while unaware that she is the carrier of the deadly virus.
In a docu-style film, acting need not be of the highest caliber, and it is certainly not so here, but it is directed with honesty, intelligence, and verve, and I was riveted throughout, despite the occasional (minor) flaw.
It is also enlightening to compare the world of 1947 with today's. And how far we have come in terms of medical care, and yet how mankind still remains so vulnerable to plagues, particularly in a world where natural disasters are bound to become increasingly frequent, with all the attendant consequences.
PS - We have all now witnessed the destruction wrought by the Corona virus, and nature warns us every day that we are all damaging our planet beyond repair.
- adrianovasconcelos
- Oct 19, 2019
- Permalink
Insinuating, Vesicular, Viral Drama.
- rmax304823
- Apr 22, 2010
- Permalink
Pretty good...but not great.
This is a B-movie from Columbia that is part of a two-film DVD under the auspices of "Bad Girl" movies. However, this one really isn't a film noir movie despite coming from the noir era. Instead, it's a story about a crazy lady who is very sick with smallpox but is so intent on revenge that she allows herself to infect many others--necessitating a city-wide vaccination program. There really isn't that much more to it than that.
The script is pretty good, but not as taut or exciting as it might have been. The acting isn't bad, but once again isn't all that spectacular. All in all, it's a pretty good film but it isn't one I'd rush to see. A very competent film and nothing much more.
The script is pretty good, but not as taut or exciting as it might have been. The acting isn't bad, but once again isn't all that spectacular. All in all, it's a pretty good film but it isn't one I'd rush to see. A very competent film and nothing much more.
- planktonrules
- Mar 16, 2010
- Permalink
Timely tale on Noir Alley
A beautiful blonde (Evelyn Keyes as Sheila Bennet) gets off a train in New York with some diamonds she smuggled from Cuba. A T-man (Barry Kelly) is in hot pursuit, but Sheila knows that and loses him at the hotel she checks into with the help of a bell hop. What Sheila doesn't know is that she has smallpox. She doesn't feel very well, but apparently like so many patient zeroes, she stays on her feet longer than many of the people that she infects manage to live.
So this is really two stories. The noir part is Sheila being betrayed by and then seeking vengeance against her duplicitous husband Matt - as in vowing to kill him - who got her to steal the jewels but deserted her after he got them. The other is semi-documentary in style about the epidemic of smallpox that Sheila unknowingly brings into New York. Actually, the smuggled diamonds are just a MacGuffin.
This is based on a true story about a Maine couple who brought smallpox into New York City in 1946, and the mass vaccination campaign that followed. So I guess the noir angle was brought in because people are just not going to buy a ticket to see a movie that is all about public health.
It is interesting to see how sprawling the public health network was in New York City, and probably elsewhere, at the time. That network has been decimated over time. It is also odd seeing the mayor of New York telling pharmaceutical company heads to break regulations in order to produce mass amounts of vaccine. Those are federal regulations today, and a mayor just can't do that.
You see the equivalents to today's pandemic - you have your antivaxxers, people who deny how one woman can infect millions until somebody explains it to him in a barber shop, and long lines of people who realize the threat clamoring for the vaccine. There is one funny art design detail - why does a public New York clinic need to wallpaper its office with "GET VACCINATED HERE" signs? I think people would notice the first sign they saw!
There are some future stars here -Dorothy Malone, Jim Backus, and Richard Egan, along with wonderful character actor Whit Bissell. If you wonder why the actor who brilliantly played the sleezy criminal Matt Krane, Charles Korvin, did not have a bigger career, he was blacklisted as a result of refusing to cooperate with HUAC.
So this is really two stories. The noir part is Sheila being betrayed by and then seeking vengeance against her duplicitous husband Matt - as in vowing to kill him - who got her to steal the jewels but deserted her after he got them. The other is semi-documentary in style about the epidemic of smallpox that Sheila unknowingly brings into New York. Actually, the smuggled diamonds are just a MacGuffin.
This is based on a true story about a Maine couple who brought smallpox into New York City in 1946, and the mass vaccination campaign that followed. So I guess the noir angle was brought in because people are just not going to buy a ticket to see a movie that is all about public health.
It is interesting to see how sprawling the public health network was in New York City, and probably elsewhere, at the time. That network has been decimated over time. It is also odd seeing the mayor of New York telling pharmaceutical company heads to break regulations in order to produce mass amounts of vaccine. Those are federal regulations today, and a mayor just can't do that.
You see the equivalents to today's pandemic - you have your antivaxxers, people who deny how one woman can infect millions until somebody explains it to him in a barber shop, and long lines of people who realize the threat clamoring for the vaccine. There is one funny art design detail - why does a public New York clinic need to wallpaper its office with "GET VACCINATED HERE" signs? I think people would notice the first sign they saw!
There are some future stars here -Dorothy Malone, Jim Backus, and Richard Egan, along with wonderful character actor Whit Bissell. If you wonder why the actor who brilliantly played the sleezy criminal Matt Krane, Charles Korvin, did not have a bigger career, he was blacklisted as a result of refusing to cooperate with HUAC.
Smallpox noir
- nickenchuggets
- Jun 26, 2021
- Permalink
An Omen for the Future???
- bsmith5552
- Apr 25, 2021
- Permalink
caught in two stories
Sheila Bennet is smuggling diamonds into the country and arrives at New York City's Pennsylvania Station after a trip to Cuba. She fears being followed by the feds. Unbeknownst to her, she's also carrying something deadly. She returns to her husband Matt Krane who is actually cheating on her with her own sister Francie. Dr. Ben Wood has to deal with an outbreak in the city which traces back to Sheila.
This movie has two parallel manhunts going at the same time. It really should do one or the other. This should be either Outbreak or a crime noir. The crime noir seems to be the one taking a back seat. The Outbreak is not done in the most exciting way either. This movie is caught in two worlds and not succeeding in any of them. Both have some interesting aspects but the two sides are stepping on each other.
This movie has two parallel manhunts going at the same time. It really should do one or the other. This should be either Outbreak or a crime noir. The crime noir seems to be the one taking a back seat. The Outbreak is not done in the most exciting way either. This movie is caught in two worlds and not succeeding in any of them. Both have some interesting aspects but the two sides are stepping on each other.
- SnoopyStyle
- Feb 6, 2021
- Permalink
Panic in the Streets it Ain't
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.
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 ny
As a picture of the state of public health in New York in 1947 BC (Before Cuomo) this film is most interesting, especially when viewed in these current Pfizer/Moderna soaked times. Amazing that they could immunize eight million people in such a short time, huh? Of course they weren't up against variants and anti vaccers (although there were a few of the later, proving once again that ignorance has always been our constant companion). However, as a noir this film is hit and miss. Hits would include the plethora of location shooting, always a plus if only to get us out of the drab, ubiquitous back lot, Ev Keyes and Charles Korvin's convincing studies in criminality and corruption, good support from veteran character actors like Art Smith, Connie Gilchrist and Whit Bissell, and a truly scary makeup job on Keyes once she's got the dreaded pox. Minuses would be the stilted, jr. high public service film level narration, the even more stilted performance of William Bishop as the saintly, dogged public health doc, and a couple of my least favorite movie devices; the gratuitous suicide and the adorable little kid. Bottom line: if it's medical noir you're after check out "Panic In The Streets", made at roughly the same time with plague 'stead of pox, and also filmed on location (albeit in NOLA, not NYC), but featuring much better dialogue and tighter paced direction, to mention nothing of a major upgrade in doctor heroes (from Bishop to Widmark). Let's give this one a B minus.
Noir Gets Vaccinated
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.
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.
- dougdoepke
- Jan 5, 2012
- Permalink