That's with this movie that director Cy Endfiled was discovered and also problems began for him, just before of course the awesome SOUND OF FURY; two movies that will put Endfield on the black list, because accused of anti American activities, Mc Carthysm red scare that contaminated Hollywood, and not only. It is question of corruption in the newspaper business. A tooic that would have pleased to Samuel Fuller. Dan Duryea is outstanding in this noir drama, more than crime film. A social drama too, where racism is on the scale. And in the early fifties, it was not politically correct to denounce racism.... Endfield eventually paid the price for it. Check the rest of his filmography, mostly made outside the US film industry. And for our greatest pleasure. Duryea's character is cynical here, as Kirk Douglas was in THE BIG CARNIVAL. Yes, Duryea gives here a brilliant performance, not a as real villain, as usual in westerns or film noirs, but not as a "clean" white hero either. Cy Endfield and some other directors of this time could have been compared to French film maker Yves Boisset, the king of politically incorrect subjects.
Review of The Underworld Story
