Elia Kazan's "Panic in the Streets" isn't a masterpiece, but it's an absorbing little thriller which also serves as a nice preview of Kazan's more significant film achievements in the 1950s. In fact, the whole film comes off as a bit of an excuse to scout New Orleans locations for exterior shots to be used in "A Streetcar Named Desire," not to mention a warm-up to the extended justification of informing that is "On the Waterfront" (which is, nonetheless, a masterpiece). You can see the shadowy visual style that Kazan would perfect in "Streetcar and "Waterfront" starting to ripen, and there's even Jack Palance, billed here as "Walter Jack Palance," fresh off replacing Brando in "Streetcar" on Broadway, to cement the film's status as an extended dress rehearsal for the rest of the decade. And in some insanely ironic casting, there's a pre-blacklist Zero Mostel onhand acting for one of HUAC's most notorious informers. But even without its historical significance, "Panic in the Streets" offers plenty of entertainment value.
In the film's first few minutes, New Orleans underworld chieftan Palance plugs a sweaty immigrant who tries to duck out of a poker game. The rest of the film involves the New Orleans police and health departments working to track down Palance and anyone else who might have had contact with the foreign-born stiff, who was perspiring thanks to a case of pneumonic plague, in order to prevent an epidemic, not to mention a Panic in the Streets. It could be a dry police procedural, and for the most part is, but there are some nifty noir elements, like the waterfront demimonde which Palance and his henchman Mostel inhabit, and some interesting docudrama-style scenes as the cops and docs explore some of New Orleans' multiple ethnic subcultures as they hunt for sources of infection. Otherwise, there's some modest diversion to be found as Richard Widmark, as the young doctor on the public payroll determined to stop the sickness, and Paul Douglas, as the grizzled old cop (is there any other kind?) assigned to assist Widmark in his quest, develop a grudging respect for each other. Like a good member of the Greatest Generation, Widmark has an understanding wife, played by future "Dallas" doyenne Barbara Bel Geddes, and a cute kid, played by future "Lassie" lad Tommy Rettig. Widmark's domestic bliss is pretty trite, but it's written with a hint of depth and wit so it doesn't ruin the movie so much as reinforce its atmosphere as a slightly-better-than-average TV cop show.
In the film's first few minutes, New Orleans underworld chieftan Palance plugs a sweaty immigrant who tries to duck out of a poker game. The rest of the film involves the New Orleans police and health departments working to track down Palance and anyone else who might have had contact with the foreign-born stiff, who was perspiring thanks to a case of pneumonic plague, in order to prevent an epidemic, not to mention a Panic in the Streets. It could be a dry police procedural, and for the most part is, but there are some nifty noir elements, like the waterfront demimonde which Palance and his henchman Mostel inhabit, and some interesting docudrama-style scenes as the cops and docs explore some of New Orleans' multiple ethnic subcultures as they hunt for sources of infection. Otherwise, there's some modest diversion to be found as Richard Widmark, as the young doctor on the public payroll determined to stop the sickness, and Paul Douglas, as the grizzled old cop (is there any other kind?) assigned to assist Widmark in his quest, develop a grudging respect for each other. Like a good member of the Greatest Generation, Widmark has an understanding wife, played by future "Dallas" doyenne Barbara Bel Geddes, and a cute kid, played by future "Lassie" lad Tommy Rettig. Widmark's domestic bliss is pretty trite, but it's written with a hint of depth and wit so it doesn't ruin the movie so much as reinforce its atmosphere as a slightly-better-than-average TV cop show.