99 River Street **** (1953, John Payne, Evelyn Keyes, Brad Dexter) – Classic Movie Review 7555

Cult director Phil Karlson’s excellent little-known 1953 film noir crime melodrama 99 River Street is a satisfying walk on the wild side that keeps up a cracking pace from start to finish, with Franz Planer’s inventive black and white cinematography a big plus.

John Payne stars as Ernie Driscoll, an ex-boxer, now taxi driver, who offers to help actress Linda James (Evelyn Keyes) find out who killed her producer, and then has to clear his own name for the murder of his wife (Peggie Castle), who was enjoying an extra-marital affair with jewel thief Victor Rawlins (Brad Dexter). So Driscoll (Payne) sets out to hunt down the robbing rotten bad guy.

The surprisingly gritty, complex tale, based on a story by George Zuckerman, has even darker elements than most of its film noir kind, emphasised by the imaginative direction of Karlson, who was soon to direct the marvellous The Phenix City Story (1955).

Also in the cast are Frank Faylen, Jay Adler, Jack Lambert, Glen [Glenn] Langan, Eddy Waller, John Daheim [John Day], Peter Leeds, William Tannen, Gene Reynolds and Ian Wolfe.

99 River Street runs 83 minutes, is directed by Phil Karlson, is produced by Edward Small Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by Robert Smith, based on a story by George Zuckerman, is shot in black and white by Franz Planer, is produced by Edward Small and is scored by Emil Newman.

It is the companion movie to Karlson’s Kansas City Confidential (1952), made the previous year and also starring John Payne.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7555

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