The Underworld Story
Directed by Cy Endfield
Written by Harry Blankfort and Cy Endfield; story by Craig Rice
1950/USA
FilmCraft Productions
First viewing/Warner Archive DVD
[box] Catherine Harris: Did you ever rob graves, Mr. Reese?
Mike Reese: No future in it.[/box]
This indictment of the media is uneven but interesting.
Mike Reese (Dan Duryea) is a reporter who will stop at nothing for a story or a buck. He is fired from his big city newspaper when an article he wrote (but begged the editor not to publish) resulted in a gangland killing. The paper’s owner E.J. Stanton (Herbert Marshall) has been battling city boss Carl Durham (Howard da Silva) and believes Reese must have ties to the man. Reese is nothing if not adaptable and goes to Durham to get a loan to start over. With the money, he buys a half interest in a struggling small town newspaper owned by Cathy Harris (Gale Storm).
E.J. Stanton’s daughter-in-law is promptly murdered. The audience learns immediately that his son murdered her but is framing the Negro maid Molly (Mary Anderson) for the crime. The other characters are in the dark. The tortured Stanton goes along with this to avoid scandal. Cathy went to school with Molly and believes she could not have committed the crime. Reese proceeds to cash in by turning Molly over the police for the reward money and then whipping the town up into establishing a defense fund for her, which he intends to split with the defense attorney.
The town big shots, including Stanton, scheme to drive Reese out of town. Reese fights back against increasingly menacing threats,
First, the good. By now, readers know how I feel about Duryea and he does not disappoint. Howard da Silva is perfect as the affable but ruthless Durham. Stanley Cortez’s cinematography is outstandingly Expressionistic. On the other hand, most of the other performances are over the top and the story slides into preachy melodrama at points. And why, oh why, would they cast a white actress as the black maid? Just because she is sympathetic and educated?
