The Underworld Story

Blackballed from the Big City papers, Mike Reece finds small-town excitement when a press baron’s daughter-in-law is murdered, and he intends to take full advantage. Happy to play it whichever way will best line his pocket, he nonetheless gets a happy ending with only a beating to suffer and no incentive to reform his ways. He’s actually grubbier than Ace In The Hole’s Chuck Tatum (the following year), and despite the relevance in theme (and personnel) to the self-interest of the HUAC witch-hunts, the script sorely lacks Wilder’s bite and steely moral clarity. Interest is maintained by a well-rounded cast and a hint of noir, but the racial angle is flimsy to the point of exploitation and it’s as full of empty promise as a sensationalist headline (or the misleading title).

d Cy Endfield p Hal E. Chester, sc Henry Blankfort ph Stanley Cortez ed Richard V. Heermance ad Dave Milton, Gordon Wiles m David Rose cast Dan Duryea, Gale Storm, Herbert Marshall, Howard da Silva, Michael O’Shea, Mary Anderson, Gar Moore, Harry Shannon
(1950, USA, 91m, b/w)