The Street with No Name
Directed by William Keighley
Written by Harry Kleiner
1948/USA
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Alec Stiles: What’s the use of having a war if you don’t learn from it?[/box]
This early semi-documentary style police procedural is enlivened by Richard Widmark’s performance as the germo-phobic gang boss and gritty location shooting on L.A.’s mean streets.
When two innocent civilians fall to gangland shootings, the FBI’s Inspector Briggs (Lloyd Nolan in his character carried over from The House on 92nd Street) suspects a Skid Row gang. He assigns Agent Gene Cordell (Mark Stevens) to infiltrate the gang and Agent Cy Gordon as his backup undercover at a nearby flophouse. Cordell insinuates himself into the local scene and soon impresses gang leader Alec Stiles (Widmark) with his boxing prowess at the gym.
Stiles wants to build his organization on “scientific lines”. His operation benefits from a mysterious informant somewhere deep within the police department. The story follows the FBI’s procedures in finding the evidence necessary to pin the murders on Stiles and Cordell’s dangerous maneuvers within the gang. With Ed Begley as the Chief of Police.
Cinematographer Joe McDonald brings his noir expertise (Panic in the Streets, Call Northside 777, Pickup on South Street) to bear in lending interest to what might otherwise be a routine crime drama. This was Widmark’s second film after his debut as the psychotic Tommy Udo in Kiss of Death. He is fun to watch as the fastidious, neurotic Stiles, who is nonetheless ready to slap his wife down at the slightest provocation or none at all. This is all balanced out by many scenes detailing FBI forensic procedures under the bright lights of Bureau labs.
Trailer – cinematography by Joseph MacDonald
