Where the Sidewalk Ends **** (1950, Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, Gary Merrill, Bert Freed, Tom Tully, Karl Malden, Ruth Donnelly, Craig Stevens, Neville Brand) – Classic Movie Review 6366

Director Otto Preminger’s excellent 1950 film noir thriller stars Dana Andrews as Detective Sergeant Mark Dixon, a violent cop who accidentally beats to death a suspect in a robbery case and tries to frame a gangster (Gary Merrill) by faking the evidence. But instead, an innocent cabman (Tom Tully), the suspect’s father-in-law, is charged with the murder.

Andrews meets and falls for Tully’s daughter, the murder victim’s widow (Gene Tierney), and tries to help both of them. But no attorney will take the man’s case, so he devises a fatal plan to confront Merrill in the hope that he will be killed and Tully cleared.

Preminger tells a very tall tale indeed, adapted from William L Stuart’s novel Night Cry. But the gripping screenplay by Ben Hecht and Andrews’s sturdy performance really grab and hold the attention, and it is shot and filmed with punchy noir style by Preminger.

It is a re-match for the stars and director of Laura (1944).

Also in the cast are Bert Freed, Tom Tully, Karl Malden, Ruth Donnelly, Craig Stevens, Neville Brand, Don Appell, Oleg Cassini, John Close, Harry Von Zell, Grace Mills, Robert Simon, Lester Sharpe, Clancy Cooper and Bob Evans.

The 20th Century Fox film is shot in black and white by Joseph LaShelle, produced by Otto Preminger and scored by Cyril F Mockridge, with art direction by Lyle R Wheeler. The novel adaptation is by Victor Trivas, Frank P Rosenberg and Robert E Kent.

Alfred Newman’s Street Scene Theme is whistled over the opening credits, which are written in chalk on a sidewalk. The 20th Century Fox tune is not used at the start.

Region 1 DVD available.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6366

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