Cry of the City (1948) A Street Scene Noir

Directed by Robert Siodmak (The Phantom Lady The Suspect, The Spiral Staircase, The Killers, Criss Cross and more). 

Written by Richard Murphy and an uncredited Ben Hecht. Based on Henry Edward Helseth's novel.

Cinematography by Lloyd Ahern Sr (The Brasher Doubloon) ., Music by composer Alfred Newman.

This is one of the Street Scene Noir. Street Scene was composed by Alfred Newman in 1931 for the film with the same title which was based on a state play. It functions as one of unofficial signature tunes for New York City used as the score for five 20th Century Fox Film Noir all set in New York City, its styled after George Gershwin's 1924's Rhapsody in Blue  d which defines New York City's Jazz Age. 

The other four Fox Noir are Kiss of Death, I Wake Up Screaming, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and The Dark Corner. 

The film stars A lot of Classic Noir Vets Victor Mature (I Wake Up Screaming, The Shanghai Gesture, Killers Kiss, My Darling Clementine, Las Vegas Story) as Lt. Vittorio Candella, Richard Conte (The Spider, Call Northside 777, Thieves Highway, Highway Dragnet, and of course The Godfather) as Martin Rome, Fred Clark (Ride The Pink Horse, The Unsuspected, White Heat, Sunset Blvd.) as Lt. Jim Collins, Shelley Winters (A Double Life, Larceny, A Place In The Sun, The Raging Tide, Harper ) as Brenda Martingale. 

Victure Mature as Lt. Candella

Richard Conte as Martin Rome

Fred Clark as Lt. Collins

Shelly Winters as Brenda Martingale

With Betty Garde as Nurse Frances Pruett, Berry Kroeger (Gun Crazy) as W. A. Niles, Tommy Cook as Tony Rome, Debra Paget as Teena Ricante, Hope Emerson as Rose Givens, Roland Winters as Ledbetter, Walter Baldwin as Orvy, June Storey as Miss Boone, Tito Vuolo as Papa Rome, and Mimi Aguglia as Mama Rome. 

We hear Street Scene and see the titles running over various establishing stills of night time New York City.

Story

We cut to a hospital bedside. A 29 year old adult. Martin Rome, is lying on white sheets, eyes closed. A figure stands next to him

We pull back and see that a priest is giving the Last Rites to Martin Rome. Rome's whole family is crowded around his mother, father, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, its a cliché Italian American tableaux right outa central casting. 

Mimi Aguglia as Mama Rome and Tito Vuolo as Papa Rome

Tommy Cook as Tony Rome and an uncredited actor as his sister

After these visual intros, we cut to Lt.'s Candella, and Collins entering into a white anteroom. Candella in deference to the family has his hat in hand, Collins is more unrestrained and he's already in the ward with the ongoing ceremony. 

A nurse intercepts them and reads them the patients details we find out Martin's name, age, and address, blood type, knife wound in shoulder, she adds in "no further record." Collins explodes. 

Collins [loudly]: No record!

He gets schussed by a family member who comes up behind him. Collins comes back into the anteroom. 

Collins: For five years he's pulled every trick in the book. Tonight he holds up a restaurant and kills a cop. No Record.

Nurse: I mean no further medical record. 

Candella and Collins attend the end of the ceremony. 

We immediately cut now to a figure of a shadowy woman at the other end of the empty hospital ward. She enters the ward. Its Teena Martin's girlfriend, and she approaches Martin. Here Newman gives us a riff on Santa Lucia as a "love" leitmotif. If it was Irish wiseguys we'd probably hear Danny Boy. 

This is a good example of how you hit a Classic Noir run time. Cut out all useless exposition for everybody. i.e. backstories, side stories, etc. It's all done using cinematically using stereotypes and visual clues.and it's all accomplished within the first five minutes. The actors hit their marks and say their lines.

Back to Martin and Teena, lol, you wonder or not if its actually Tina in the novel. 

Debra Paget as Teena Ricante

Anyway they talk. They're an "item." She asks Martin why did he have to shoot, why did he have to kill. They kiss and then are interrupted by the nurse, who discreetly leaves. 

We cut to Collins sitting on a bench, Candella coming up the stairs and the Nurse joining them. She asks if she bills the police department for the operation and then mentions that he's going to be operated in a few moments adding something along the lines of as soon as Martin's wife is done comforting him. 

He has no wife. Candella and Collins followed by the nurse rush into the ward. Save for Martin in his bed the ward is empty.  

Cut to the nurses station. W. A. Niles is asking desperately to see Martin Rome before his operation. He wants to exonerate one of his clients by having Martin confess to the crime. 

Candella and Collins come up behind Niles. Niles and the Lt.'s exchange hellos. Then Niles explains that he needs to talk to Rome so that Rome can exonerate his client in the de Grazia killing. 

They let him ask Martin who tells Niles to go fry, he then passes out unconscious from whatever the nurse gave him in prep for the operation.   

The operations to remove the bullets are successful, and once Martin is back out of danger he gets visited by Candella and Collins once again. 

Here again is and example of how they made classic Noir. No shots of operation, or its conclusion. No scenes of anxious family or even the cops enquiring about Martin, just boom on to his recovery with Candella seeing a headline in the paper and then cutting to Candella and Collins grilling Marin at the hospital.

They question him about a ring they took off him. 

He tells them he won it in a crap game. It turns out to be one of the jewelry items from the de Grazi heist. Martin again repeats his innocents claiming he's already going to the chair so why would he lie about it. 

Candella asks again about the girl that visited him and Martin does a double take answering,

"what you mean that wasn't an angel."

                                                 "What you mean that wasn't an angel."

"what you mean that wasn't an angel."

After Candella leaves Niels comes in telling Martin that he thinks he can get him off with 2nd degree murder, if he confesses his participation in the de Grazie heist. Neil also informs Martin that he can come up with a couple of more pieces to prove it. 

Martin is not that stupid. Then Neil tries threatening him with working over his girlfriend. Martin flips out and grabs Neil by the neck and has to be restrained by hospital personnel. 

We cut to Candella visiting the Rome apartment in his old neighborhood. Mrs. Candella asks what's gonna happen to Martino, Candella replies, he killed a cop. Candella starts asking about Martin's girlfriends and one of Martins siblings blurts out a name. Candella got what he came for. Before he departs Mrs. Rome gives Candella a mason jar of soup. 

Martin is moved to a prison hospital. There he makes friends with Orvy a trusty who shows him how to unlock the hospital cell door with just a spoon. . 

Walter Baldwin as Orvy

Soon afterwards Candella shows up bringing Martin his soup. 

It all starts to go Noirsville after Candella reads Martin a list of all Martin's girlfriends and he reads Teena Riconti's name last. It all Martin can to do control himself. Once Candella splits Martin starts calling for Orvy.

Orvy tells Martin that he has to fix things up first and gets him a visitors card for the exit guards and then brings him the spoon to open the lock. Martin puts on his trench coat and hat and makes his way out of the prison ward and out into the streets of NYC.

Of course it goes spiraling out of control even more once Martin is on the loose again.

Noirsville

Siodmak directed a tight little noir where everything thing moves do fast that there is no time to think of or even question things. For instance when Martin passes out in Brenda's car, how does she find an unlicensed doctor in Manhattan at such short notice? There's probably a lot more about Brenda in Henry Edward Helseth's novel The Chair for Martin Rome. 

The cast is great, the story entertaining, and the Fox backlots blend with the Manhattan location shots for the most part. There's also some archival footage of 3rd Ave el trains on the Coenties Slip "S" curve. 

                                                                 Coenties Slip "S: Curve

Definitely worth a watch 7.5 /10.