Black Hand *** (1950, Gene Kelly, J Carrol Naish, Teresa Celli) – Classic Movie Review 11,821

Director Richard Thorpe’s 1950 American film noir Black Hand stars Gene Kelly, J Carrol Naish and Teresa Celli.

A young New York Italian guy, Johnny Columbo (Kelly), working with police detective Louis Lorelli (Naish), sets out to avenge his lawyer father’s murder by the Mafia in the early 20th century. Both his childhood friend Isabella Gomboli (Celli) and Lorelli try to dissuade him from his vendetta against the men who killed his father Roberto Colombo (Peter Brocco).

This early attempt by the movies to capture the Mafia on celluloid is an intriguing, carefully made MGM studios crime drama, with a surprise star doing the business in a straight role. Naish and Italian import Celli (as Columbo’s childhood friend Isabella Gomboli) are first-rate, too, and Alberto Colombo’s music and Paul C Vogel’s cinematography combine with Luther Davis’s expert screenplay (fancifully based on various real-life Mafia situations) to produce the right film noir atmosphere.

Black Hand is rarely screened and worth seeking out. The public, though, never really took to Kelly outside musicals. The Mafia was called the Black Hand at the turn of the last century, since their offer-you-can’t-refuse cash demands were always signed with a hand ink-print.

The box office was $1,210,000 and it cost $774,000, but it was a box office disappointment. It earned $772,000 in the US and Canada and $438,000 elsewhere, and recorded a loss of $55,000 for MGM.

The cast are Gene Kelly as Giovanni E ‘Johnny’ Columbo, J. Carrol Naish as Louis Lorelli, Teresa Celli as Isabella Gomboli, Marc Lawrence as Caesar Xavier Serpi, Frank Puglia as Carlo Sabballera, Barry Kelley as Police Captain Thompson, Mario Siletti as Benny Danetta / Nino, Carl Milletaire as George Allani / Tomasino, Peter Brocco as Roberto Columbo, Eleonora von Mendelssohn as Maria Columbo, Grazia Narciso as Mrs. Danetta, Maurice Samuels as Moriani, Burk Symon as Judge, Bert Freed as Prosecutor, and Mimi Aguglia as Mrs Sabballera.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,821

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