Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

William Castle

Writers:

Henry Jordan (story)
Robert L. Richards (screenplay)

Release Date:

6 October 1949 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Crime

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Prison | Character Name In Title

Cast

Howard Duff	...	George Morton
Shelley Winters	...	Terry Stewart
Dan Duryea	...	Johnny Evans
Tony Curtis	...	Joey Hyatt (as Anthony Curtis)
John McIntire	...	Nick Avery
Gar Moore	...	Sam Harrison
Leif Erickson	...	Pringle
Barry Kelley	...	William McCandles
Hugh Reilly	...	Charlie
Wally Maher	...	T.H. Benson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Patricia Alphin	...	McCandle's Secretary (uncredited)
Gregg Barton	...	Treasury Man (uncredited)
James Conaty	...	Courtroom Extra (uncredited)
Pilar Del Rey	...	Mexican Girl (uncredited)
Leslie Denison	...	Canadian Undercover Man (uncredited)
Watson Downs	...	Watchman (uncredited)
Charles Drake	...	Hotel Clerk (uncredited)
Harry A. Evans	...	Federal Judge (uncredited)
Al Ferguson	...	Porter (uncredited)
Alan Foster	...	Informer (uncredited)
Robert Foulk	...	Pete (uncredited)
Nacho Galindo	...	Señor Martinez (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton	...	Prison Guard (uncredited)
Don Hayden	...	John Whalen (uncredited)
Colin Kenny	...	Porter (uncredited)
Joe Kerr	...	Headwaiter (uncredited)
Robert Kimball	...	Joe, Bartender (uncredited)
Grace Lenard	...	Woman Informer (uncredited)
Edwin Max	...	Pete Carter (uncredited)
Bill McLean	...	Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Rudolph Medina	...	Mexican Boy (uncredited)
William H. O'Brien	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Robert A. O'Neil	...	Informer (uncredited)
Kenneth Patterson	...	Ray Dallas (uncredited)
Sherman Sanders	...	Square Dance Caller (uncredited)
Pat Shade	...	Bellboy (uncredited)
Bert Stevens	...	Extra (uncredited)
Burk Symon	...	Morgue Attendant (uncredited)
Joe Turkel	...	Bellboy (uncredited)
Duke York	...	Bodyguard (uncredited)

Directed by
William Castle

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Henry Jordan		story
Robert L. Richards		screenplay

Produced by
Aaron Rosenberg	....	producer

Cinematography by
Maury Gertsman

Film Editing by
Ted J. Kent

Art Direction by
Bernard Herzbrun
Emrich Nicholson

Set Decoration by
John P. Austin		(as John Austin)
Russell A. Gausman

Costume Design by
Orry-Kelly

Makeup Department
Joan St. Oegger	....	hair stylist
Bud Westmore	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Dewey Starkey	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jesse Hibbs	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Leslie I. Carey	....	sound
Richard DeWeese	....	sound

Special Effects by
David S. Horsley	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Glenn Adams	....	still photographer
John Brooks	....	gaffer
Harry Davis	....	camera operator (as H. Davis)
Russ Franks	....	grip (uncredited)

Music Department
Milton Schwarzwald	....	musical director
Miklós Rózsa	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Hans J. Salter	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Frank Skinner	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Leith Stevens	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)

Other crew
Connie Earl	....	script supervisor (as Connie Earle)

Production Companies

• Universal International Pictures (UI)

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1949) (USA) (theatrical)

Runtime:

76 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

The feds infiltrate heroin ring; good cast in routine noir

Federal agents risking mortal danger to infiltrate criminal syndicates supply one of the basic templates for film noir. The crooks can variously be counterfeiters (as in T-Men) or traffickers in illegal laborers (as in Border Incident) or, here in Johnny Stool Pigeon, heroin smugglers.

Those first two films were by the resourceful Anthony Mann; Johnny Stool Pigeon is by William Castle, no Mann but later to become the king of cheapie horror flicks after an apprenticeship in noir (his When Strangers Marry may be the best of his juvenilia).

It's a creditable if not especially memorable effort, thanks mostly to a cast headed by Dan Duryea, Howard Duff, Shelly Winters (in her sexpot phase) and, in a non-speaking part, young Tony Curtis (here billed as "Anthony," a better billing than he got in the same year's Criss Cross, where his manic rhumba with Yvonne De Carlo went uncredited).

Narcotics cop Duff knows his only chance to crack an international drug ring is by springing a convict (Duryea) whom he'd help put in Alcatraz. The oil-and-water team of unwilling partners travels from San Francisco first to Vancouver then, gang moll Winters in tow, to a dude ranch near Tucson run by the mob.

The plot's volatility depends on the possibility of Duff's being sold out by Duryea or recognized by Curtis, who spends half the movie knitting his brows in an effort to remember where he'd seen Duff before. Reckoning finally comes at a dangerous drug buy at the Nogales border crossing.

As a straight arrow, Duff's not bad, though in more ambivalent roles in movies like Shakedown or The Naked City, he can turn into a slithery chameleon. The reliable Duryea does his soured cynic number -- he had it down pat by now. Winters adds a dash of hot sauce, but it's a sketched-in part at best. Johnny Stool Pigeon adds up to a pretty routine hour-and-a-quarter of noir -- but that's far from faint praise.