Last night, we found another Noir by Robert Siodmak : "Cry of the City"(1948). Set in New York's Little Italy, it's got crime, family drama, doomed love. It's the kind of New York story where two childhood friends take separate paths in life; one becoming a police officer, the other a criminal. Richard Conte stars as"Martin Rome", a thug who's just killed a cop. He's in a hospital jail ward, recovering from a gunshot wound himself, when he's visited by a tearful young woman (Debra Paget). "Why'd you have to do it, Marty"?, she asks. We assume she's his girlfriend, but Martin only remembers her as a "dream angel", having been high on painkillers at the time. When police come to question him about the cop killing, he won't talk. Then a lawyer visits him to coerce a false confession for another murder - the torture of a lady for her jewelry. Martin didn't do that one , but the lawyer - a crook himself - offers him ten grand to take the fall. "You're going to The Chair anyway. Might as well take the money to provide for your family. It'll get my client off and you can go to hell with a clean conscience". He's outraged at the shyster's offer and tries to strangle him. Hospital staff break it up. These three visits, by his girlfriend, the police and the lawyer, will serve to set the plot threads for the film.
A jail trustee (Walter Baldwin) is the custodian for Martin's hospital wing. When no one's around, he shows him how to pick the lock on his room. In a terrific sequence, director Siodmak ups the tension as Martin dons street clothes to make his escape, then is forced to pass though several security checks to reach the street. Once out, he heads straight for home, where his mother welcomes him with open arms. She's a traditional Italian Catholic, family is family and besides, Marty always sends her money to help support the household. She knows he's dishonest; any more than that she's doesn't want to know. "Mama, it's so good to see you", he tells her. "I just need a meal and a good night's sleep, then I'll be gone".
The next day, after he leaves, she's visited by "Lt. Candella" (Victor Mature). He's known Mama Rome and her family all his life. He was a boyhood pal of Martin's, and now he has to tell Mama the bitter truth. "He's wanted for killing a policeman, I'm sorry Mama Rome". Martin's teenage brother "Tony" (Tommy Cook) is also present. He idolises Martin and thus hates Candella as the bearer of bad news.
Martin's next stop is the office of the crooked lawyer (Berry Niles). Through jail scuttlebutt, he knows about the torture murder, attributed to the lawyer's client. He also knows about the jewelry that was taken, and figures the lawyer might have it. He's right; it's in a safe. Martin pulls a knife and demands the jewels. He also makes the lawyer reveal the name of the accomplice in the murder, a woman who works as a masseuse.
Martin then stabs the lawyer and heads out again, in search of the home of the accomplice. He plans to offer her the jewels she helped steal in exchange for five grand so he can leave the country. He's not fully recovered from his gunshot wound, however, and he's getting feverish and weak. He also doesn't realise - because he doesn't know her - that the masseuse (Hope Emerson) is a veteran criminal herself and no pushover. She's also 6'2" and strong as an ox. He'll find all this out when he meets her.
This film has almost everything : great acting, multiple plot lines, heavy 1950s melodrama. It has the sociopathic son (Martin), who disappoints his Italian mama. It's got the little brother who worships him, the cop from the same neighborhood who's now out to catch him. It's got great supporting characters, like Shelly Winters as a broad from the bars who helps Martin locate the massage lady. She also finds him a shady doctor who performs a stitch-up on Martin's leg in the back of a cab. There's also a middle-aged nurse who plays a key role, helping Martin when she doesn't have to, and shouldn't. But she's a spinster, and it's a way to have a man in her life. She's also dedicated to her profession and sees Martin as her patient for better or worse. The movie has story to spare. The one thing it lacks is tension, save the aforementioned escape scene in the hospital. Too much time is spent playing out the Stanislavsky-esque melodramas, the tortured interrelationships between Martin, his family, Lt. Candella, and - at the end of the movie - his girlfriend "Tina" (Paget) when we finally see her again. These scenes tend to drag out, not ad infinitum, but long enough where we could've been following Martin while he's on the run. Siodmak should've cut the family scenes shorter in service of a tighter film.
The fans love it, however, and it's got a 7.2 IMDB rating, very high for an older, mostly unknown film noir. It's the kind of movie Scorsese would've made if he was working back then, and I'll bet he knows and loves it too.
All in all, I'm still gonna give "Cry of the City" Two Big Thumbs Up, just for overall content and that Siodmak Style. The black-and-white photography is great, with fantastic Manhattan locations. It would've worked better at 80 minutes instead of 95, but it's still very highly recommended. /////
The previous night we saw "Cosh Boy"(1953), a British juvenile delinquent flick that follows the exploits of "Walshy" (James Kenny), a punk who lives with his mother in a lower middle class flat in London. He's 18 and leads a small gang of street toughs who specialize in purse snatching. The one difference with this lot is their use of a "cosh", a pocket sized bludgeon they knock their victims on the head with before ripping them off and running. When we first see Walshy, he's making his flunky do all the dirty work. "Alfie" (Ian Whittaker) is a half wit, but even he is smart enough to know that Walshy is getting the better of the deal - half the money and little of the risk. "Yeah, but I plan the jobs", Walshy tells him. He's a real manipulator, that boy.
At home, Walshy's mother believes her son is a good lad, even when he and Alfie are busted for the initial purse snatching. They're given a year's probation. Both boys promise to go straight, but Walshy has no intention of doing so and he controls Alfie, so soon they are back in business, this time with associates "Skinny" (Johnny Briggs) and "Pete" (Stanley Escane).
Walshy's mom is about to remarry, to a Canadian businessman named "Bob" (Robert Ayers), an authoritarian type that Walshy can't stand. "I'll kill him", he swears to his mother, who tries to soothe him.
His roiled emotions are flung in the opposite direction by "Rene" (Joan Collins), Alfie's teenaged sister who frequents the local youth center. Rene has a boyfriend and a job, but as a typical Cockney girl, she's sure of herself and up to the challenge when Walshy puts his tone deaf moves on her. Soon she falls in love with him, and for Rene it really is love, because she believes Walshy when he says those three little words, much as his mum believed him when he promised to go straight. He's a helluva con man, but when Rene gets pregnant he shows his true colors and wants nothing more to do with her. She attempts suicide by jumping in the Thames, but fortunately doesn't succeed.
Meanwhile, Walshy is plotting the robbery of a boxing match that will net him a lot of dough. His nemesis Bob is the promoter and will be carrying the box office revenue to the safe. Walshy plans to steal it and kill Bob in the process if necessary. He's got Skinny and Pete helping him, but Rene's mother is out to get him, ready to strike him dead for what he's done to her daughter, and Alfie too. He's also making a huge mistake going up against Bob, a physically fit World War 2 vet who could easily kick young Walshy's ass.
But Walshy has graduated, from the "cosh" to a gun. Is he really willing to use it? We know he hates Bob, who beats him with a belt. But is Bob worth going to prison for, maybe for the rest of his life?
You could call "Cosh Boy", an exploitation movie, in the sense that it's out to shock and warn. You can almost picture a potential tag line : "This Could Be Your Son"! The script is written from a birds-eye-view as we watch Walshy's behavior degenerate. He's the Bad Influence all the neighborhood parents are afraid of, and so we take the high moral ground when his deeds finally catch up with him. He isn't James Dean in "Rebel", who cries "You're tearing me apart"! With Walshy there are no tears, no anguish, only threats, crimes and more threats. It's a little one dimensional and he's more or less unsympathetic, but again, it's a "warning"! movie - "The Teenagers Are Running Wild"! - and viewed from that perspective, it's very well done, especially the acting which is excellent for such a one note film. James Kenny and a very young Joan Collins stand out as Walshy and Rene, and Ian Whittaker is excellent as the harebrained Alfie, whose voice sounds like an East End chipmunk.
It's quite good for what it is, and so we're gonna give it a split verdict : Two Solid Thumbs Up overall but Two Bigs for the acting. Give "Cosh Boy" a shot, the print is razor sharp. ////
That's all for tonight. I hope you had a great day and I send you Tons of Love as always!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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