The Underworld Story (1950)

Director:

Cy Endfield

Writers:

Craig Rice (story)
Cy Endfield (adaptation)

Release Date:

26 July 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Film-Noir | Drama

Plot:

Mike Reese, yellow journalist and antihero, prints a story that leads to a gang killing, and is blacklisted...

Plot Keywords:

Small Town | Newspaper | Murder | Publisher | Father Son Relationship

Cast

Dan Duryea	...	Mike Reese
Herbert Marshall	...	E.J. Stanton
Gale Storm	...	Catherine 'Cathy' Harris
Howard Da Silva	...	Carl Durham
Michael O'Shea	...	District Attorney Ralph Munsey
Mary Anderson	...	Molly Rankin
Gar Moore	...	Clark Stanton
Melville Cooper	...	Maj. Redford
Frieda Inescort	...	Mrs. Eldridge
Art Baker	...	Lt. Tilton, state trooper
Harry Shannon	...	George 'Parky' Parker
Alan Hale Jr.	...	Shaeffer, Durham Warehouse Thug
Stephen Dunne	...	Editor Chuck Lee
Roland Winters	...	Stanley Becker, lawyer
Sue England	...	Helen, fund worker

Also Known As:

The Whipped (trailer title)

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #14279) | Sweden:15

Company:

FilmCraft Productions

Quotes:

District Attorney Ralph Munsey: Take it easy, Reese. Things are tough all over. Pretty soon a man won't be able to sell his own mother.

Powerful Film Unfairly Treated

The more I watch classic films, the more I discover what a great year 1950 was in the movie business. Here's another good film, and one many people are probably unfamiliar with. This one revolves around the newspaper business.

Dan Duryea, as usual, is interesting as "Mike Reese," a bad guy-turned-good guy journalist. He is joined in the cast by Herbert Marshall, Gale Storm (one of the great names in show business and who will forever be "My Little Margie" to those of us who were around in the '50s), Howard Da Silva and Michael O'Shea.

Of the above-mentioned, Da Silva was the most fascinating, as the brutal mob boss "Carl Durham." He only had a minor role, but some of his lines were outstanding and his role was memorable. Da Silva was a great actor for film noirs. This isn't really a noir, but it's close. Marshall was just fine as the newspaper owner.

The film was not kind to the newspaper business, so some media-minded film critics (who probably had columns in daily papers) didn't like this film for that reason. Too bad. They should have liked it, since it had Left Wing written all over it, with several Liberal themes and favorite catch-phrases such as "witch hunts" (one of their all-time favorites).

Nonetheless, it's a powerful film and well-acted.