Yeah, he does look hot, doesn’t he? I recommend no tongue, though.
I don’t know if the makers of the misnamed City of Fear (1959) had more than one theme in mind, but I think the most understated theme in this movie is the most important. The movie opens with the aftermath of a successful escape attempt from San Quentin by Vince Ryker and his buddy, who listen to the radio report of dead and wounded guards and an APB on them. The buddy then dies of his wounds, begging to be taken to the hospital, a request denied by Vince, because that would endanger the most profitable part of their escape.
A container of pure heroin that will set them, now only himself, up for life.
Except it’s not. The “heroin,” which was being used to experiment on volunteer prisoners, is actually granulated Cobalt-60, a deadly radioactive substance, which, in this granulated form, could kill thousands if the container is unsealed.
When your room mirrors your health.
The plot then turns on the desperate police search for the quickly sickening Vince, who is busy trying to arrange to sell the heroin through a dealer. The story, except for the Cobalt-60 element, is a familiar and competent story of how the competing ambitions of criminals makes for poor and even deadly collaboration between criminals. As Vince’s associates die, he grows both more sick and desperate, slowly losing his mind, although whether’s it to the empty promise of riches and prestige, or the effects of radiation (yeah, that container isn’t lead) is hard to tell. He’s heading for a dark ending, but whether that makes this noir is hard to tell.
Technically, it’s a good, if not great, movie. Every character without a spear has at least a bit of personality. The plot, while it had a few problematic ticks to it (really, this violent guy has such a respectable looking girlfriend? And why is the Cobalt-60 ever in a container not made of lead?!), was acceptable, although I prefer to see information dispensed in a more miserly fashion. The dialog was undistinguished but competent, and the actors were also mostly competent in a workmanlike way. I actually admired the work of the actors in the final scene, in the little dive, as every single one had some shabby story to tell, if only they could.
However, the work of the lead, Vince Edwards (yes, his character is Vince, also), was a little bit one note, and I flat out didn’t believe him when he was becoming ill from the radiation poisoning. I think the problem lay in his pacing, as all of his work seemed to move to the same drum beat, even as he was gasping his life out on the street. Compare to Marlon Brando’s stumble from where he is nearly beaten to death on the pier to the warehouse where the union men are needed to begin loading a ship in On The Waterfront (1954). Brando’s sense of pacing is radically altered compared to the rest of the movie in order to emphasize this change to his life and the great effort his character is putting forth in the service of his fellow union members. Granted, Vince is fighting only for himself, and it’s a fight he cannot win, but his internal struggle for the object of projected wealth vs his failing health needed better emphasis.
Thematically, this is obviously another commentary on how crime doesn’t pay. However, the very briefly mentioned fact that the Cobalt-60 is used in experiments on prisoners leads to another theme: Crime doesn’t pay for anyone. The act of performing experimentation on prisoners, without their permission (they thought it was heroin), constitutes a crime in and of itself, and in the story they transform this crime’s victims, the prisoners who are being poisoned, into, in the person of Vince, avenging angels, rebounding those crimes onto the backs of the innocents inhabiting the city into which Vince drives. The story becomes a cautionary tale, not of assuming a life of crime is a profitable and enviable occupation, but the abuse of anyone, even violent prisoners with bad attitudes, is an acceptable way to treat the cast-offs of society. This mistake’s consequences are illustrated in this story, but because the initial mention is so brief as to be almost missed, the theme is unfortunately muted.
It’s an interesting movie, somewhat predictable, but worth a watch after an evening spent shoveling snow.
And, no, most of the inhabitants of the city are not living in fear. I have no idea why they wasted the title slot of this piece with such a meaningless phrase.
