Although the Federal Bureau of Investigation had some successes in apprehending criminals back in the days of J. Edgar Hoover's (in contrast to the current failure to find the anthrax-sender or any of those who aided the 9/11 terrorists), it was notable for avoiding trying to tackle the Mafia (denying the existence of interstate organized crime before the Senate Kefauver Committee hearings in the mid-1950s). Hoover really excelled in two other endeavors: (1) spying on politicians who might someday try to curb his power and anyone he regarded subversive (especially if they were black), and (2) in encouraging good publicity for the FBI. The mystique/mystification of FBI agents moved from print media to the screen in 1935 with "'G' Men," starring James Cagney and Lloyd Nolan as FBI agents, directed by William Keighley from Daryl F. Zanuck's novel Public Enemy Number One (the ten "most-wanted" list was another stroke of Hoover's genius for publicity).

"'G' Men" was a turning point from the gangster movies before the Production Code began being enforced in mid-1934. The popular early gangster movies focused on (and, in the view of censors and would-be-censors, glamorized) the gangsters (Scarface, Public Enemy, Little Caesar, etc.) rather than having law enforcement heroes as they oughtta. Keighley also directed the "Bullets or Ballots" (1936) as part of the censorship-placating, police-glorifying second wave of crime/gangster movies (with Edward G. Robinson as a detective and Humphrey Bogart as his antagonist).

After being fired from directing Errol Flynn in "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938), Keighley directed some fairly good comedies (The Man Who Came to Dinner, George Washington Slept Here; he also directed the all-black Green Pastures, which Mr. Hoover could not have approved of, before his Robin Hood debacle). In 1948 he returned to helmsing FBI propaganda with "The Street with No Name." Although it has continuities with "'G' Men" (including having Lloyd Nolan playing an FBI agent), it more directly followed upon the 1945 "The House on 92nd Street," directed by Henry Hathaway (with Nolan's agent having the same name as in "Street": George A. Briggs). The glorifications of the heroism and competence of the FBI both emanated from Zanuck's studio, 20th Century Fox, and I am sure there is a story there. The co-operation from the FBI included not only access to FBI training facilities in Quantico, Virginia, but many real agents lent to make the picture.

As noirish as the movie looks after the first 10-15 minute quasi-documentary propaganda for the FBI (and its wise head), a movie with a hero with unshakable moral certainty cannot be a noir. This does not mean it cannot be (or that it is not) an entertaining movie, especially with the inspired cinematography of Joe MacDonald (one of the great noir stylists, responsible for the look of "Call Northside 777" and Panic in the Streets, and the noirish look of the western The Yellow Sky, the latter two both starring Richard Widmark) and one of Richard Widmark's seething villain turns (in "The Street with No Name" he is only neurotic, in contrast to his psychotic turns in "Kiss of Death" and No Way Out).

The newly trained FBI agent Gene Cordell (Mark Stevens) is sent undercover to Central City (the locations were in LA and San Pedro), where the shooting of a bank guard in a holdup has given the FBI jurisdiction. The bullet from that matches one form a night-club shakedown, and the audience already knows that the Lugar that launched the lethal bullets belongs to Alec Stiles (Richard Widmark), who we soon learn owns a boxing gym and has a gang and has someone in his employ in the upper reaches of the local police. Stiles endeavors to modern "scientific" methods, which include getting FBI checks on potential associates.

The FBI has prepared a rap-sheet with Cordell's fingerprints for an often-arrested but never convicted robber named George Manly. Other than impressing Stiles in the boxing ring and having a record of not being nailed, Stiles does nothing to check Manly's background before inviting him to join his gang (in a very odd and arguably perverse scene).

There is lots of derring-do (including a leap onto a departing ferry that was clearly done by Stevens rather than a stuntman), the ferreting out of the corrupt policeman, and an early instance of a shoot-out in a menacingly shadowy night-time warehouse (this once was a fresh idea, though Fritz Lang opened his 1933 "Testament of Dr. Mabuse" with a forerunner; Widmark also has one on the other side of the law in "Panic in the Streets"...).

There's a twist that also was fresh at the time (that is somewhat adumbrated by Lang's seminal "M").

Stevens is only OK. Widmark has no more difficulty commandeering every scene he's in that his character does in getting test results and background check data from his police employee (Stiles is a very unsympathetic character, so his theft of the picture could not be accused of making the criminals seem sympathetic or nearly or this kingpin as smart as he thinks he is and able to continue to fool the FBI and its brilliant head who personally cables instructions to arrest the crooked cop). Barbara Lawrence does not make much impression as Judy Stiles. If it weren't for the credit listing of that as her name, I would not have been sure if she was wife or girlfriend/moll. The Stileses have no affection for each other. Ed Begley does not have much to do as the police chief other than to look concerned or dismayed. (He can't be too competent, since it is the FBI that must be glorified...) Nolan did his usual unspectacular, avuncular authority thing. His part provides a lot of exposition, considering that there is already the obnoxious pseudo-newsreel voiceover (not quite as obtrusive as in "The Naked City" which also dates from 1948).

The picture is very obviously unrestored with many (mostly vertical) scratches (etc.). The sound (and image) improve after the opening documentary part. Although I did not listen to all of it, I found the commentary track by noir experts James Ursini and Alain Silver informative and often germane to the scenes. The DVD also includes a trailer for "Street" and four other "Fox Noir" movies: Henry Hathaway's offers "Call Northside 777", Sam Fuller's remake of "Street," "House of Bamboo, Otto Preminger's "Laura," and Elia Kazan's "Panic in the Streets."

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BTW, Fullers 1955 remake, "House of Bamboo," was shot in color. According to the commentary track it bringing further out the perversities of the gang leader. It was also lensed by Joe MacDonald. Another irony is that the last movie Keighley directed was a (not very good) period piece starring Errol Flynn, "The Master of Ballantrea" (from the great late novel by Robert Louis Stevenson). Mark Stevens, also played Olivia de Haviland's husband in 1948 in "The Snake Pit." His best noir appearance was in "The Dark Corner" (1945) wherein he is saved by his secretary (played by Lucille Ball in her best dramatic performance).

Hoover was able to continue to manipulate screen representations of the FBI by facilitating the 1959 movie "The FBI Story" with James Stewart and the tv series "The FBI" starring Efrem Zimablist, Jr. that ran 1965-1974.

For more noirs, see my listing of the best ones at http://www.epinions.com/content_4454916228.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD