No Way Out **** (1950, Richard Widmark, Sidney Poitier, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, Harry Bellaver) – Classic Movie Review 3604

Co-writer/director Joseph L Mankiewicz’s 1950 pioneering hospital-bound race-issue film-noir melodrama No Way Out is commendably intense and powerful.

Sidney Poitier stars as Dr Luther Brooks, a young black doctor whose white patient dies; a race riot ensues. Richard Widmark and Harry Bellaver co-star as the Biddle brothers, brought wounded to the hospital after they have tried to rob a garage. It is George (Bellaver) who dies and the racist Ray (Widmark) believes that Poitier’s Luther has killed him, and will have no help from him either.

No Way Out is a hard-hitting, thoughtful look at racial prejudice and discrimination that, while its impact may have faded, still seems totally relevant today. Poitier’s sterling début feature film celluloid performance (aged 22, though he told Mankiewicz he was 27) demonstrates the qualities that helped him become an important figure in highlighting race issues in America.

Linda Darnell and Stephen McNally also star as Edie Johnson and Dr Dan Wharton. Director Mankiewicz, who in the same year made All About Eve, directs this broaching of a difficult subject in an extremely emotional and intelligent way. Mankiewicz and Lesser Samuels were Oscar nominated for 1951 Best Story and Screenplay.

Also in the cast are Stanley Ridges, Mildred Joanne Smith, Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, Bill Walker, Dots Johnson, Rudolph Anders, Robert Adler, Ernest Anderson, Eleanor Audley, Harry Carter, Jeb Christy, Wade Dumas, Ralph Dunn, Charles Flynn, Bert Freed, Ralph Hodges, Thomas Ingersoll, Frank Jaquet, Stan Johnson, Doris Kemper, Victor Kilian, Don Kohler, Jack Kruschen, Harry Lauter, Frank Overton, Frank Richards, Kathryn Sheldon, Maude Simmons, Emmett Smith, Ray Teal, Phil Tully, Ann Tyrrell, Bill Walker, Ruth Warren, Jasper Weldon, John Whitney, Ian Wolfe, Will Wright, Leola Wendorf and Ruben Wendorf.

Widmark apologised to Poitier for the racist remarks his character makes in the movie. It marks the film debut of Ossie Davis, appearing with his wife Ruby Dee for the first time. Writer Philip Yordan suggested adding the scenes showing the doctor’s family inside their home. Ironically, the black actors in the race riot scene discovered they were getting paid less than the white actors. Their protests led to more pay.

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© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3604
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