Irish Film Institute -CRY OF THE CITY

CRY OF THE CITY

Director: ROBERT SIODMAK

107 minutes, U.S.A., 1948, Black and White, D-Cinema


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Adapted from the novel The Chair for Martin Rome by Henry Edward Helseth, Cry of the City is a superb film noir, ripe for rediscovery. Martin Rome (Richard Conte) is a petty thief and cop killer from New York’s Little Italy, lying injured in a prison hospital. He is determined to escape and clear the name of his fiancée Teena (Debra Paget), who has been implicated in a jewel heist. His one hope might be his former pal Lieutenant Candella (Victor Mature), a product of the same immigrant Italian community as Rome. But why would Candella, an upstanding cop whose only concern is justice, come to the aid of a criminal?

 Siodmak fled Nazi Germany for Hollywood, and while he might not be as celebrated as his compatriot Fritz Lang, Cry of the City provides some evidence to why he came to be tagged ‘the new Hitchcock’. (Notes by Michael Hayden.)

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★★★★ The Guardian ★★★★ The Irish Times ★★★★ Time Out London

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