(SLWB - July 04, 2012)
Directed by: George Sherman (The Raging Tide)
Cinematography was by William Miller. Music by Frank Skinner.
The film Stars and Stars: Richard Conte a Noir vet second behind Bogart in terms of numbers of Hollywood Noir as Fred Rowan, Coleen Gray (Noir vet Kiss of Death, Nightmare Alley, The Killing, Death of a Scoundrel) as Nurse Ann Sebastian, John Alexander (Arsenic and Old Lace, Night Has a Thousand Eyes) as Police Inspector Gordon, Richard Taber (Under The Gun) as "Pop" Ware, Peggy Dow (Shakedown, Woman in Hiding, Undertow) as Kathy Hall, Alex Nicol (The Raging Tide, and lots of TV) as Dr. Steve Anderson, and a fav, Dort Clark (Kiss of Death, Close Up, St. Benny the Dip, and lots of TV series Mike Hammer, Johnny Staccato, Car 54 Where are You?
Story
We get an into by Richard Conte giving us a spiel complete with a Bellevue Hospital, Manhattan, montage where our tale is going to take place.
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| Richard Conte as Fred Rowan |
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Bellevue Hospital exterior.
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| 1949 Cadillac Ambulance |
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We watch as a 1949 Cadillac ambulance comes down the early morning street and pulls into the Bellevue emergency entrance. It backs up to the Emergency Room door.
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The intern wearing an overcoat, oversees the transfer, then pauses to light a cigarette. He seems to be deep in thought.
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He then heads out of the hospital complex onto 25th Street and heads East.
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There's a light fog shrouding the awakening city. When he gets to the pedestrian overpass going over the FDR Drive, he climbs up and over the highway.
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He ends up on Municipal Pier 73 on the East River with a beautiful view up river to The Queensborough Bridge (this whole area replaced by Bristol Basin and 10 Waterside Plaza). He begins walking North along the bulkhead.
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| Municipal Pier 73 with a great view of the Queensborough Bridge |
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We suddenly hear running footsteps. The intern, turns to see who is approaching. We cut to a closeup of the interns face, a revolver, a muzzle blast.
Somebody put a cap in his head point blank.
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We cut a parking lot along the edge of the bulkhead unmarked 1949 Ford Customs have joined a dark green, black, and white RMP (radio motor patrol) patrol car. We first see here, the arrival of Police Inspector Gordon head up a crime scene investigation.
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We go into police procedural mode now and Gordon and his team begin interviewing everyone who was in contact with the deceased intern during the last 24 hours. They question his supervisor, the intern who was his roommate, all the other interns, the nurses, and Ann Sebastion the nurse he was involved with to some extent. Ann states that they dated but it was not serious and that she has no idea who would want to cause harm.
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| John Alexanderas Police Inspector Gordon |
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| Coleen Grey as Ann Sebastian |
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| Sending in the special squad |
The police come up with nothing. No apparent motive, or somebody is keeping their mouth shut. Gordon decides to send in his special undercover squad into the hospital to see if they can shake something loose. One of the men Fred Rowan was part of a front line medical unit during WWII and took two years of medical school. They provide him, with the help of the LAPD a new identity from California, and with the go ahead permission from Bellevue, make him the replacement for the intern murdered.
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Here we get a guided tour of Bellevue's facilities, circa 1949, when Fred joins all the rest of the new hospital employees in orientation. The tour starts on the observation deck at the top of the building where the orientation tour guide announces jokingly to the newbies "Take a good look at the skyline, now, because its the last time you'll see it for a long time."
Orientation Tour
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| Take a good look |
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| Dort Clark center |
Fred is bunked with Dr. Steve Anderson the murdered interns bunkmate. Fred is able to easily pass himself off and soon is an efficient cog in the hospitals day to day operations.
Fred is able to become friends with Steve who gripes about only making 50 dollars a week, and is worrying about keeping his girlfriend happy on such a paltry amount of money.
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| Alex Nicol as Dr. Steve Anderson |
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| Richard Taber as "Pop" Ware rt. |
The other interns let off steam during their off duty hours playing pool in the recreation area provided by the hospital. Fred and Ann both like what each other sees and they become attracted to each other.
It starts to go Noirsville when Fred meets "Pop" Ware, a friendly elevator operator who dabbles in being the hospital runner for a bookie. "Pop," is always coming up with sure things, and sometimes they pay off. Fred, with permission from Gordon, decides to start betting with "Pop" and getting himself into debt.
Noirsville
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George Sherman keeps the majority of the film centered around Bellevue Hospital and the Eastside Manhattan environs nearby, and it has a nice sequence where the investigator is investigated by the police after a second intern is found dead.
Its a pretty good film that keeps you entertained. It slowly turns more and more Noir-ish once it it reaches the half way point. A a good film with an intriguing story.
Looking at some of the blurbs and posters that advertised this flick you get that they oversold it as something it was not. Coleen Grey never wore an evening gown, and this film was nowhere near The Naked City in its use of New York City locations.
Conte, Grey, Nicol, and Anderson, are all very believable, while Taber plays a very memorable character. 7/10
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