Cry of the City

Cry of the City has good performances by Richard Conte and Victor Mature. Conte is great with his soft-spoken voice and shifty eyes. The best scenes though are with the bigger-than-life HOPE EMERSON! Her entry down the long corridor, eating the pancakes, and trying to strong-arm Conte are all memorable, cult-ish moments.

I remember seeing this movie many times on "Picture For A Sunday Afternoon", "The Early Show" and "The Million Dollar Movie" and I always loved watching it. I thought Richard Conte played one of the best "bad guy" roles I'd ever seen. Using his girlfriend, kid brother and even his mother to facilitate his life of crime. Victor Mature gives his usual solid performance and Fred Clark as his assistant was interesting as well considering that his future seemed to be bumbling comedic bit player. The sleazy lawyer and murderous masseuse were also well cast. What I can't understand is why this flick as well as One Million BC aren't available on DVD.

Victor Mature and Richard Conte deliver strong performances in this engrossing, uplifting story of the struggle between a cop and a criminal. Both men are presented as products of the city's Italian working class, and the film manages to make much of their divergent paths without being pedestrian or pedantic. The supporting characters are finely drawn and add an intriguing dimension to a plot-line that, otherwise, could have come off as time-worn and predictable. Hope Emerson is of particular interest as a disgruntled masseuse of rich old ladies. The movie is a marvelous example of the excellence that could emerge from 40's morality and is missing from much of modern filmmaking.

I think this is an underrated (and under-publicized) film that sports an interesting story. Yes, it's a typical one of its day in that it highlights two boyhood friends who wind up on the opposite side of the law ("Angels With Dirty Face," etc.) but it is well done. Victor Mature "Lt. Candella") and Richard Conte ("Martin Rome") both do a very credible job as the good and bad guys, respectively. Shelley Winters, Debra Paget and Hope Emerson all provide solid female acting support in this little-known film noir. Emerson ("Rose Given") might be the least known of the three, but not to me since I am a big fan of the Peter Gunn TV series of the late 1950s in which she played a key role. With film noir making a comeback in recent years, I hope someone puts this movie out on DVD.