Cry of the City (1948)
Directed by Robert Siodmak

Film Review

One of Robert Siodmak's lesser known film noir offerings from his glorious period in Hollywood, Cry of the City is a slick, well-constructed thriller that is only slightly let down by its moralistic tone and some ill-judged comic embellishments.  Given Siodmak's assured direction and the pedigree of the cast (Richard Conte and Victor Mature are both superb in their respective roles as the ruthless but flawed crook and the nice-guy cop who must bring him to account), it is surprising the film is not as well known as the director's other great film noir thrillers.  With its suspenseful narrative, brooding atmosphere and skilful appropriation of all the familiar film noir motifs, Cry of the City can easily hold its own against Siodmak's earlier The Killers (1946) and his subsequent Criss Cross (1949).  The film's most unusual and interesting element is the counter-stereotypical character played by Hope Emerson - a butch masseuse who proves to be even tougher and more vicious than the crooked main male protagonist.  It is hard to imagine a more venal and sadistic female character in any film noir (or indeed any film) of this era.

In common with many film noir thrillers produced by Twentieth Century Fox, Cry of the City has a grimly realistic, almost documentary feel to it, an impression that is reinforced by its extensive use of real locations in New York City (including some beautifully shot nocturnal sequences, which are pure film noir).  Mindful of criticism that had been heaped on earlier crime thrillers (in particularly those made by Warner Brothers in the previous decade) the studio was more insistent in getting across the message that crime does not pay in its films, and so Cry of the City constantly reminds its audience of the virtues of sticking to the straight and narrow.  Just to underscore the point, the film hammers it out again at maximum volume in its predictable ending - the cop lives to fight another day, but the crooks ends up dead in the gutter.  This heavyhanded preachiness is of course unnecessary and serves to undermine the film's dramatic thrust, and this is probably what has prevented it from being regarded as a classic.  Don't let this put you off, though.  Cry of the City has everything any film noir aficionado could ask for, including a young Shelley Winters at her celluloid-scorching best.

Film Synopsis

After a shoot out with the police, hardened crook Martin Rome ends up in hospital having shot dead a cop.  Whilst he is recovering he is visited by his fiancée Teena Ricante and is pressurised by a lawyer named Niles to confess to participating in a jewel robbery, a crime of which he is innocent.  Realising that Teena is about to be framed for the robbery, Rome absconds from the hospital and confronts Niles in his office.  It transpires that Niles is representing the real jewel thief.  In a fracas, Rome stabs Niles to death and takes flight with the stolen jewels, which had been hidden in Niles's safe.  Pursued across New York City by a cop named Candella who was once a childhood friend, Rome attempts to track down the jewel thief's accomplice, Rose Givens, hoping to exchange the stolen jewels for cash.  As the net closes in on Rome, his time and his luck soon begin to run out...