Simply Perfect

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Up there with the 1946 sleeper "Somewhere in the Night", this is one of the best lesser known thrillers of 20th Century Fox's film noir collection. Film noir festivals should focus more on the more obscure films like this since everybody who studies the noir genre has seen the classics like "Double Indemnity", "Laura", "The Big Sleep" and "Detour", to name a few. This practically completely dark film noir is set mostly at night and shows New York City at its most depraved and mysterious. It focuses on two long-time family friends, Victor Mature and Richard Conte, one on the right side of the law, the other accused of killing someone on the right side of the law, playing a game of cat and mouse where only death can bring peace for one of them. There is no doubt in my mind that a certain large actress got her most famous part after being seen in this film, one which could have brought her an Oscar nomination just like that famous part did just two years later.The person I am referring to is Hope Emerson, the amazon woman of the city who gives Swedish massages and could break someone's neck if she wanted to. Yes, this is "the" Hope Emerson whose unforgettable matron in "Caged" remains the quintessential evil prison employee yet could also be lovable and funny when the part called for it. While they do not share any scenes, her "Caged" rival Betty Garde is also here as a tough nurse whose involvement in the plot takes her from the hospital room where suspected cop killer Conte is convalescing to her home where Garde's mother (the always scene-stealing Kathleen Howard) spills some beans to Mature that helps move the plot along even further. It gets complicated, but not convoluted, and that keeps you gripped to the screen.There are two small roles for the film's "leading ladies", Shelley Winters as Conte's girlfriend and Debra Paget as a neighborhood girl who knew both Mature and Conte growing up. Tommy Cook is very Sal Mineo-esque in his role as Conte's younger brother, giving information over a drug store phone in Italian as Mature's partner (Fred Clark) listens in, obviously understanding enough. But for me, it is Emerson who steals this film with her long scene taking care of an exhausted Conte (having escaped), then using her brute force to get her hands on the jewels he had stolen before allegedly killing a cop, and ending up with a gun herself shooting randomly in a Manhattan subway station. Director Robert Siodmark, one of the masters of the film noir genre, leaves no stone unturned in presenting the darkness of society here, and as a result, turns in a masterpiece that really deserves to become a classic.

The message that "crime doesn't pay" is made very powerfully in this gritty crime drama which also acknowledges that wrongdoing isn't exclusively the preserve of recognised criminals. This point is brilliantly illustrated by a cast that includes a corrupt lawyer, an unlicensed doctor and a mature nurse who harbours someone who's wanted by the police. The presence of these types of characters highlights the various shades that exist between pure good and evil as well as showing how varied the motivations for wrongdoing can be. The natures of the movie's two leading characters, however, are far more straightforward.Cop killer Martin Rome (Richard Conte) is being cared for in a New York City hospital after having been seriously wounded during a shootout that took place when he was interrupted in the course of carrying out his latest robbery. Detective Lieutenant Vittorio Candella (Victor Mature) who grew up in the same neighbourhood as Rome and his partner Lieutenant Jim Collins (Fred Clark) soon arrive to interrogate the criminal who's not expected to survive.Candella questions Rome about a piece of jewellery that was found in his possession as it had been the property of a Mrs de Grazia who had recently been tortured and strangled before being relieved of her valuables. Rome denies any involvement in the crime but is also approached by a lawyer called W.A.Niles (Berry Kroeger) who tries to get him to confess to the crime to get one of his clients (who's also a suspect) off the hook. Rome is also visited in the hospital by his girlfriend Teena (Debra Paget) who isn't seen by the police officers.When Rome's condition starts to improve, he gets transferred to a prison from which he escapes and goes straight to Niles' office. There, he finds the de Grazia jewels in the lawyer's safe and after a confrontation between the two men, stabs Niles to death before leaving. Having learnt (from Niles) the identity of the real accomplice in the de Grazia robbery, Rome tracks down a masseuse called Rose Given (Hope Emerson) and offers her the stolen jewels in exchange for a couple of steamboat tickets for South America and $5,000 in cash. Rome then sets Given up to be apprehended by the police so that he and Teena will no longer be suspected of any involvement in the de Grazia case and can make their escape to South America. Candella, however, is a very determined man who has no intention of letting the cop killer escape justice."Cry of the City" contains a number of interesting observations on crime. As Candella and Rome had grown up together as childhood friends in New York's Little Italy, it posits that criminality isn't simply a consequence of social deprivation. Similarly, as Rome has a younger brother who hero-worships him, it clearly asserts that unless some third party intervention is made (in this case by Candella), there's a great danger of the boy simply following his hero into a life of crime. Rome comes from a large and very close-knit family and unusually for a movie of this type, the pain, anxiety and shame that they suffer as a consequence of his actions are strongly recognised.Visually, the movie's dark, rainy streets and neon lights are brilliantly rendered and will be greatly appreciated by film noir fans who will also enjoy the sequence in which the imposing Rose Given is introduced into the action.Victor Mature gives a very strong performance as the hardworking and seriously underpaid homicide detective who goes far beyond the basic requirements of his job and by so doing, benefits the lives of Teena and Rome's younger brother. Richard Conte is marvellous as the ruthless killer whose victims are far more numerous than the number of people he's actually killed or robbed and the members of the supporting cast are also exceptionally good as they vividly bring to life the particularly colourful collection of minor characters who add so much to the enjoyment of watching this great, gripping and thoughtful movie.

You remember that scene where Lieutenant Candella (Victor Mature) challenges Marty (Richard Conte) by stating that he (Candella) has a gun and Marty doesn't believe it? Candella says, "Go ahead, call my bluff". How many of you were waiting for him to say 'Make my day'. I'm betting Clint Eastwood studied this film at some point in his career.Well this is a nifty little noir masterpiece that has it's share of elements that made the genre so popular. On the lam after breaking out of a prison hospital ward, Martin Rome (Conte) beats a path through his old neighborhood trying to stay a step ahead of his boyhood friend Candella, now a police lieutenant. Sometimes you have to overlook some of the less than credible aspects of a story, like Marty using a spoon to pick the lock of his prison cell, I would have thought he'd need at least a knife and a fork.Holy cow, if nothing else you've got to catch this flick for Madame Rose Given. The only time I've ever seen actress Hope Emerson elsewhere was in the 1950 prison flick "Caged", and if you thought she was scary here with her hands around Marty's neck, then you're in for a real treat with that movie. You know, it's almost impossible to make up a character like her, you just have to see it to believe it.The cat and mouse game between Marty and Candella runs it's course in due time, but not before we get a cool glimpse of the city in all it's harsh splendor, another hallmark of the genre. Shelley Winters shows up as one of Marty's one time floozie gal pals, and offers up one of the film's better lines acknowledging that he did in one of his rat pals, crooked attorney Niles (Berry Kroeger) - "I'm glad you killed him, Marty. He was a bad man".

Few films defined as "film noir" are as bleak and unrelenting as "Cry of the City" It features Rcihard Conte as a unrepentant underworld figure who escapes from a prison hospital ward to protect a woman who was in on a jewel caper with him. Everywhere he turns there are old enemies and potential set-ups but he manges to avoid both the cops and criminals that are after him until the final big scene.Released at the peak of the noir cycle this film will appeal to any that find that style to be their favorite. More mainstream viewers will wonder the hu-bub is about as the lines of dialog can appear heavy handed as if lifted from Broadway play and force fed the actors. All the thesps are great including Victor mature as a no nonsense cop from the same neighborhood that spawned our anti-hero. Only in one scene does Conte's rough veneer seem to crack: When confronted by Mature about his past even the heartless gangster can't seem to convince himself that he is anything but a user and a taker. It is a powerful scene that fits in well with so many New york exterior shots. The benefits of the film also rest in the picture's accumulation of small detail that outweighs any of the staginess inherent in the screenplay.