A bit of an odd duck of a Newspaper noir. Cy Endfield's film begins promisingly with big city muck, but then detours into the New England countryside. It's more than a bit jarring in tone, as the small town 'quaintness' takes over much of the middle section of the film. Dan Duryea is a noir icon, but, he comes on a bit too strong as the scheming newspaper man (Gale Storm's character should have called the cops and put a restraining order on him).
Things pick up when a black maid is falsely accused of murder (not a spoiler). All of a sudden, the movie returns to its crime roots, and it becomes more than a subtle McCarthy red baiting tale (indeed, several of the filmmakers were soon ensnared, including DaSilva and Endfield). Herbert Marshall is fine as is the full supporting cast, but Howard DaSilva steals the show as a jovial mobster - the more he smiles, the more menacing he becomes.
UNDERWORLD STORY is a mixed bag, but still effective enough in the end, even if the climactic scene is bit too brief. One of the other oddities is that the accused (Mary Anderson) is not only an obviously white actress, but, given precious little screen time. It's been written that the Red Scare aspect gave UNDERWORLD STORY a taint that kept it from being more seen over the years (Warner Classics has re-issued it, and TCM runs the pretty good-looking transfer; a bit noisy on the sound end, though). Would make a good double bill with the similar superior Robert Wise film CAPTIVE CITY (1952) with John Forsythe as a small town newspaper man batting the mob.
Things pick up when a black maid is falsely accused of murder (not a spoiler). All of a sudden, the movie returns to its crime roots, and it becomes more than a subtle McCarthy red baiting tale (indeed, several of the filmmakers were soon ensnared, including DaSilva and Endfield). Herbert Marshall is fine as is the full supporting cast, but Howard DaSilva steals the show as a jovial mobster - the more he smiles, the more menacing he becomes.
UNDERWORLD STORY is a mixed bag, but still effective enough in the end, even if the climactic scene is bit too brief. One of the other oddities is that the accused (Mary Anderson) is not only an obviously white actress, but, given precious little screen time. It's been written that the Red Scare aspect gave UNDERWORLD STORY a taint that kept it from being more seen over the years (Warner Classics has re-issued it, and TCM runs the pretty good-looking transfer; a bit noisy on the sound end, though). Would make a good double bill with the similar superior Robert Wise film CAPTIVE CITY (1952) with John Forsythe as a small town newspaper man batting the mob.