Kansas City Confidential **** (1952, John Payne, Coleen Gray, Preston Foster) – Classic Movie Review 7556

Director Phil Karlson’s taut, tense, crisp, and expertly made little 1952 black and white film noir thriller Kansas City Confidential [The Secret Four] stars John Payne, Coleen Gray and Preston Foster, and is based on a story by Harold R Greene and Rowland Brown. It is the companion movie to Karlson’s 99 River Street, made the following year and also starring John Payne.

Payne plays the ex-convict  ex-G I Joe Rolfe, unluckily driving a vehicle that looks like a getaway van for a million dollar armoured car robbery by four men in masks, who is framed and falsely accused of armed robbery. He is arrested, struggles to clear his name and goes to Mexico to nail the real culprit – bitter, former cop Tim Foster (Foster) – who has arranged to meet the other three robbers in a small Mexican fishing village to split the loot.

The tough tone and realistic picture of Fifties cheap hoodlums and their crime milieu, along with the two convincing star turns, plus invaluable Lee Van Cleef, Neville Brand and Jack Elam as the other three masked robber bad guys, make it an engrossing hour and a half.

Also in the cast are Dona Drake, Mario Siletti, Howard Negley, Carleton Young, Don Orlando, Ted Ryan, Jeff York, George Wallace, Phil Tead, Charles Sullivan, Brick Sullivan, Charles Sherlock, Jack Shea, Ric Roman, Carlos Rivero, Lee Phelps, House Peters Jr, Mike Lally, Helen Kleeb, Don House, Harry Hines, Al Hill, William Haade, Eddie Foster, Paul Fiero, Paul Dubov, Tom Dillon, Edward Coch, Charles Cane, Barry Brooks, Ray Bennett, Orlando Beltran and Vivi Janiss.

Kansas City Confidential (aka The Secret Four) is directed by Phil Karlson, runs 98 minutes, is made by  Edward Small Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by George Bruce (screenplay), Harry Essex (screenplay), Phil Karlson (uncredited) and John Payne (uncredited), based on a story by Harold R Greene and Rowland Brown, is shot in black and white by George E Diskant, is produced by Edward Small, is scored by Paul Sawtell, and is designed by Edward L Ilou.

The robbers in The Anderson Tapes (1971) wear similar masks to the thieves here.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7556

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