Film Review: The Street with No Name (1948)
1945 spy film The House of 92nd Street was one of the more interesting Hollywood films of its era. Based on true story about FBI dismantling German spy ring in USA, it was later considered to be first Hollywood’s docudrama. Its success led to the 1948 sequel The Street with No Name, directed by William Keighley.
Unlike in the previous film, script for The Street with No Name, written by Harry Kleiner, is only loosely based on real life cases of FBI. The plot is set in fictional “Central City” (which stands for real life Los Angeles), namely the Skid Row area which has recently began to suffer from a crime wave from a gang of vicious robbers that have murdered two people in a matter of days. One of the robberies involved a bank, which gives FBI and Inspector Briggs (played by Llody Nolan) jurisdiction to investigate the crime. What looks like a lead comes when Robert Danker (played by Robert Patten), young man with criminal record, gets arrested, but soon his alibi is confirmed and Danker gets released from custody only to later be found stabbed to death. Briggs decides to infiltrate undercover agent into the gang and man selected for the mission is Gene Cordell (played by Mark Stevens). He takes identity of drifter named “George Manley”, comes to Skid Row and frequents various spots where career criminals gather. One of those is gym owned by Alec Styles (played by Richard Widmark), who is quite impressed both with Manley’s boxing skills and hints that he might earn living through less than legal means. Styles recruits Manley to his organisation after checking his false criminal record, created by FBI, through his police informant. However, Cordell/Manley’s attempt to have Styles and his gang caught red-handed is wrecked when Styles received last minute warning, now knowing that he has police informant in his ranks.
The Street with No Name is, like The House on 92nd Street, made in semi-documentary style, with narration and few scenes depicting real life FBI agents and staff doing their work. Like the previous film, this one was made in co-operation with FBI and, subsequently, script praises efficiency of that agency in fighting crime and shows how such job is inherently dangerous. However, fictional nature of story makes second film look more conventional, and much more aligned with earlier pro-FBI propaganda piece, 1935 film G-Men, which was also directed by William Keighley. The conventions include obligatory female character in the form of Styles’ long suffering wife Judy, played by young Barbara Lawrence, as well as relatively long box match scene in the middle, followed by suspenseful final showdown which takes place in factory during night. Keighley directs film well, but he can’t compensate for the lack of charisma in Mark Stevens, who is solid but not particularly remarkable in his role. He is easily overshadowed by Richard Widmark who plays villain who, while much more restrained compared with his breakout performance in Kiss of Death, is very menacing and intelligent. The very conventionality of The Street with No Name works in favour of the film, but it is often at odds with explicit propaganda of the script, just like this propaganda is at odds with semi-noirish realism. In 1955 the film was remade as House of Bamboo, colour film directed by Samuel Fuller and set in Japan.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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