The Street With No Name (1948) FBI Polar Noir

Directed by William Keighley (Torrid Zone)

Writen by Harry Kleiner and Samuel G. Engel a contract writer (uncredited). Exceptional Cinematography by by the great Joseph MacDonald (The Dark Corner, Call Northside 777,  My Darling Clemetine, Panic In The Streets, Niagara, Pickup On South Street, House of Bamboo, A Hatfull Of Rain, Walk On The Wild Side). Musical direction was by Lionel Newton.

The film stars Mark Stevens (The Dark Corner) as Gene Cordell aka George Manly, Richard Widmark (Kiss Of Death, Night And The City, Panic In The Streets) as Alec Stiles, Lloyd Nolan (House on 92nd Street, Somewhere In The Night, The Lady In The Lake) as Inspector George A. Briggs, Barbara Lawrence (Thieves Highway) as Judy Stiles, Ed Begley (Sorry Wrong Number, On Dangerous Ground, 12 Angry Men, Odds Against Tomorrow) as Police Chief Bernard Harmatz, Donald Buka as Shivvy, Joseph Pevney as Matty, John McIntire (The Phenix City Story, Johnny Stool Pigeon, The Asphalt Jungle, Naked City TV series ) as Cy Gordon, Walter Greaza as Police Lt. Paul Staller, Robert Patten as Robert Danker, and Howard Smith as Commissioner Ralph Demory.

Story

Since this is a semi documentary, we get the Dept. of Justice / FBI shield on the screen. This is followed by a teletype message about crime in the streets printed on the screen and signed by J. Edgar Hoover. (the seal of approval)

“The street on which crime flourishes is the street extending across America. It is the street with no name. Organized gangsterism is once again returning. If permitted to go unchecked three out of every four Americans will eventually become its victims. Wherever law and order break down there you will find public indifference. An alert and vigilant America will make for a secure America.”     

J. EDGAR HOOVER

Center City, Noirsville. In a neighborhood with no future on a street with no name. The production does a good job of masking the actual locations. (It's actually S. Main Street in Downtown, Los Angeles and some of San Pedro and the old Terminal Island Ferry). 

Crime Wave. In quick succession, the Meadowbrook, a roadhouse gets a visit by an organized outfit. A 1942 Chrysler Crown Imperial pulls up to the entrance. The place even has a doorman.  

The doorman comes over to the Imperial and opens the door.

The doorman gets socked and laid out on the concrete sidewalk.

Inside the crew takes over. Their masked leader wears a fedora, a trench coat and a mask. He gives orders and his crew relieves the guests of all their valuables. 

A woman panics. Her husband tries to restrain her, but she jumps up, slips out of his grasp, and screams as she runs across the dance floor. She is gunned down. 

Next, a bank job with one security guard dead. The local FBI is called in on the bank robbery. The bullets recovered from both incidents are sent to ballistics at the National FBI crime labs. 

Both bullets are positively identified as being shot from the same luger by the FBI lab. Inspector Briggs is assigned to the case.

The case gets a break when the local police also "magically" recover a drivers license of a small time hood at the nightclub crime scene. 

Ok here's the first Deus ex machina incident in the plot. The cops bring the guy in. Robert Danker. Danker claims he was framed, claims that his wallet was stolen, tells the FBI inspector Briggs that he was in Chicago when the roadhouse got knocked over. 

 Lloyd Nolan as Inspector George A. Briggs - center

Robert Patten as Robert Danker

On Danker's coat is a streak of red. Is it blood? Danker claims it's paint from a girder in a building that was under construction by the railyards. Danker claims that he got the mark when he slept there overnight. Danker claims he has a good idea who framed him but wont reveal who to the cops.

Brigs instructs a guard to get Danker some clothes, and tells Danker to strip. The clothes are sent to FBI headquarters. The samples from the stain are proved again, by the FBI crime labs, that Danker's alibi on how he got the stain from sleeping up against a recently painted girder are valid. It proves he was in Chicago. 

When Brigs and Center City Police Chief Harmatz go down to release Danker they find out that he was bailed out earlier in the day and is already gone. 

When Briggs and Harmatz visit the bail bondsman across the street to find out who bailed out Danker, all they get is John Smith and a phony address. 

That night a body is found on the outskirts of Center City, it turns out to be Danker with multiple stab wounds in his back.

This sets up, by some cockamamie FBI logic, a plan to send an undercover agent into the Center City Skid Row and have him check into the same flop house where Danker had a room and basically retrace Danker's steps, to see if he can pick up any leads to the crew that is pulling these jobs. 

So if Danker was in Chicago he wasn't part of the gang, right? And, if this is such a well oiled heist operation, why would anybody in it jeopardize it all to frame Danker and connect Danker to them in the first place? 

Don't worry about it. You don't really watch this one for the plot. The real star is the archival footage of L.A.'s South Main street and the flop houses along it shot in crisp B&W cinematography. 

The FBI (we get some training sequences at Quantico) sends agent Gene Cordell masquerading as a transient under the alias of George Manly to Center City. 

Mark Stevens as Gene Cordell aka George Manly

John McIntire as Cy Gordon with Mark Stevens

Manley's  contact is fellow agent Cy Gordon who will also be impersonating a derelict. Gordon is checked in across the street at another fleabag hotel called the Gilbert. Cy is Manly's shadow. 

Arrival to Skid Row Sequence

Manley arrives in Center City (Downtown L.A.) on a bus in a beautifully shot highly atmospheric sequence.

This is actually the Greyhound Bus Station on 6th and Los Angeles Street

Skid Row (South Main Street L.A.) Center City

The Royal a Flop House Hotel

Manly starts hanging around the bars, arcades, 2nd hand stores. pawn shops pool halls, and makes himself seen. Manly gravitates down to the gym. Manly pays his 25¢ and wanders around the gym, stopping at a boxing ring where Kid Giveno a local competitor and his sparring partner are sparring. It's a humorous sequence.

Manly gets right up to the ring and starts yelling out instructions to the Kid. This gets the Kids fight trainer riled up. He yells at him to stop. Manly replies "what are you training him for to take a fall." That pisses off the trainer and he calls for the gym's bouncers to throw Manly out.

Alec Stiles, meanwhile walks in demanding to know what is going on. One thing leads to another and Manly is in the ring with Kid Giveno getting ten dollars a round from Alec Stiles, for every round he can stay in the ring. When Manly is getting his sparring gear on Matty one of Stiles boys informs Manly that Stiles is the gyms owner. 

Richard Widmark as Alec Stiles

 

This is good, ingratiating himself with Stiles will accelerate his undercover work. 

The humor continues when, while Manly is fighting rounds in the ring, he's still yelling out instructions to Kid Giveno, on what he's doing wrong. 

While the fight is going on Stiles tells one of his guys to pick through Manly's clothes and get Manly's info.  When the guy rejoins Stiles he has Manly's social security card and hands it to Stiles. Stile in turn hands it over to Shivvy and tells him he knows what to do with it.

At the end of the second round Manly concedes, and Stiles pays him a double sawbuck. Stiles likes his style.

Later back at the arcade, Manly meets Gordon at the nickelodeons where they are watching girlie shorts side by side. 

Manly tells him he thinks we got a lead, his social security card was stolen. Soon after this, two patrolmen walk in and arrest Manly, telling him his social security card was found left behind in a jewelry store robbery. 

Gordon informs FBI Briggs that the fake Manley social security card number is going to be sent to FBI headquarters for any criminal records. Of course they have a fake file already prepared and send it to Center City. 

We find out that Stiles has an informer planted in the Center City police department, because Manley is released on bond by the mysterious John Smith again.  

Manly goes back to the gym. Stiles spots him and comes down from a balcony that overlooks the gymnasium floor to see him. Stiles tells Manly that he's giving a poker party tonight and that he's invited. He'll send some one over to pick him up from the Royal. 

We cut to later that night. So far we know that Stiles is a snappy dresser and is a habitual user of a nose inhaler. At his apartment we find out that he's married to a string bean blonde named Judy, plays the piano and is a bit of a hypochondriac. 

When Shivvy rings the bell Stiles answers the door and brings Manly into one of the bed rooms. Stiles runs off a list of crimes from Manly's rap sheet.

He tells Manly that he's impressed with his police record and the fact that there were no convictions. Stiles tells him is building an organization along scientific lines, and he likes people who can handle themselves, and he offers him a job in his organization. Manly of course agrees and Stiles gives him a wad of cash, tells him to buy a closet of suits because he likes his crew to look sharp. 

The gang plans their next holdup over the next few weeks

It goes Noirsville when as the gang is just about to ride out and hit the nightclub converted Willard Mansion, Stiles gets a phone call warning him that somebody tipped off the FBI and the police. 

Here's another plot point that doesn't quite add up since the FBI already knows that Stiles has a informer planted in the Center City Police department. You'd  think they would be extra careful and monitor all calls out of the police department between when they got the tip off from Gordon and when they left on the intercept raid to the mansion. 

But again never mind, this film has more atmosphere than most Noir and its a real gem for that alone.

Noirsville

Keighley and MacDonald do an excellent job using the Noir Visual Style. They both capture and archive the atmosphere of a piece of the real skid row and it's denizens and it spills over nicely into the studio sets. All the actors do an excellent job in their respective portrayals. Lloyd Nolan BTW is reprising his role as Inspector Briggs for the FBI from The House on 42nd Street, you wonder if the studio was contemplating doing more. Also interesting to note is Keighley previously directed Nolan as an FBI agent in a similar semi documentary film 'G' Men (1935). Don't try to hard to make sense of the plot and enjoy the shadows. 8/10 on the strength of the visuals.