Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by tinear (A) on March 02, 2008 at 09:20:39

not technically a noir film, the main character is a doctor out to do critical service: stop the spread of pneumonic plague. Jack Palance's vicious thug, however, along with Elia Kazan's noir-ish direction makes it black enough.
Second, it is terrific to see Richard Widmark, no slouch as a noir villain himself, play the very good physician racing against time to find the murderer of a man who was infected with plague. Widmark, correctly, assumes the murderers came close enough to the victim to become contagious and the incubation of the extremely contagious and deadly virus is short, 72-hours!
Barbara Bel Geddes plays the supportive, long-suffering wife to perfection, and Widmark shows a surprising depth in this role which stretches his talent.
Kazan is a master and this should rank up their with his best, though in a different category.
Zero Mostel, as Palance's criminal cohort, is his unctuous, slimy best.