The Enforcer [Murder, Inc] **** (1951, Humphrey Bogart, Everett Sloane, Zero Mostel, Ted de Corsia) – Classic Movie Review 3,809

The first-rate 1951 film noir thriller The Enforcer [Murder, Inc] finds Humphrey Bogart on top form as crusading district attorney Martin Ferguson doggedly on the trail of crime boss Albert Mendoza (Everett Sloane) and his gang of murderous mobsters.

Director Bretaigne Windust’s excellently executed, well-crafted, first-rate 1951 film noir thriller The Enforcer [Murder, Inc] is quite brutal (for its day). Humphrey Bogart is on top form as crusading anti-crime assistant district attorney Martin Ferguson, who is doggedly on the trail of Murder, Inc’s creepy crime boss Albert Mendoza (Everett Sloane) and his gang of murderous mobsters.

Mendoza has come up with a killer of an idea, an organised crime syndicate arranging murder for cash, with a team of hitmen, an exclusive lawyer and undertaker on the payroll. Joseph Rico (Ted de Corsia) is his junior partner in crime, and wants to betray him to Ferguson to save his own skin.

Things start to go wrong after Bogart’s Ferguson arranges protection for scared Joseph Rico (Ted de Corsia), the head of Murder, Inc’s killer cadre, who is ready to testify next day in court against Sloane’s big boss Mendoza, that is if he can survive the night. Sloane and de Corsia have the authentic touch of evil, while Zero Mostel adds an eerie, over-the-top portrait as their sweaty fat hitman Big Babe Lazick.

Bogart looks splendidly craggy and world weary, but persuasively manages some action, fisticuffs and running around in a magnetic thinking man’s action role. De Corsia has a lot to do, either scared or menacing depending on which part of the story, Sloane doesn’t appear till towards the end and is definitely a masterclass in menace, and the youngish Mostel is flashily creepy, but disappears too quickly. There are maybe only four women in the cast but they each have their key moments.

Perhaps nothing tops the thrilling opening sequences, but this is still a short (87 minutes), sharp little shocker, with a dark, grim tone, plenty of suspense and tension throughout, and with many particularly suspenseful scenes and an exciting, satisfying ending. The film proceeds is a complex series of flashbacks, again satisfying, as Ferguson follows clue after clue, and witness after witness, as he tries to get Mendoza into the electric chair. The plot is nice and complex, well constructed, and delivered clean and clear. It’s a headlong rush to pack it all in, in the 87 minutes. There’s a whole bunch of memorable characters, played by a whole bunch of memorable character actors.

Though regarded as film noir, it is by and large a police procedural crime drama, imaginatively shot by Robert Burks partly in a semi-documentary style and partly in a film noir style, with pioneering gangster movie elements and organised crime details new to the cinema at the time. The unusually, flashily lit and stylishly shot old-school studio sets mix randomly with the realist vivid real locations, and perhaps surprisingly it works very nicely. The largely fictional story is based on the real-life investigation into the group of hired killers the media called Murder, Inc. During this investigation, terms such as ‘contract’ and ‘hit’ first became public knowledge, and they appear to sinister effect on the screen here for the first time, supposedly cryptic criminal jargon unfamiliar to the law.

Raoul Walsh helped out main director Windust, who fell ill and was rushed to hospital. Walsh was called in by his friend Bogart and finished the film, uncredited, apparently shooting most of its suspenseful scenes, including the ending. Walsh called the film Windust’s work and turned down an on-screen credit.

Also in the cast are Roy Roberts, Lawrence Tolan, King Donovan, Bob Steele, Don Beddoe, Tito Vuolo, John Kellogg, Jack Lambert, Susan Cabot and Alan Foster.

It premiered on January 25, 1951 in New York City and was released on February 24, 1951 in the US. It was released as Murder, Inc. in the UK.

Bogart and this kind of film were popular. They still are. It cost $1,109,000 and earned $2,873,000 globally.

It is Bogart’s last film for Warner Bros, the studio for whom he had become a star. But it was produced by United States Pictures, and Warner Bros only distributed the film. Keeping it in the family, United States Pictures belonged to Milton Sperling, who was Harry Warner’s son-in-law. Harry Warner (born Hirsz Mojżesz Wonsal; December 12, 1881 – July 25, 1958) was one of the founders of Warner Bros.. Along with his three younger brothers Albert, Sam and Jack, Harry Warner played a key role in the development of the film industry and in establishing Warner Bros, serving as company president until 1956.

So the Warner Bros were the Wonsal Bros, born to a family of Ashkenazi Jews from the village of Krasnosielc, Poland, then part of Congress Poland within the Russian Empire.

Murder, Inc. was an organised crime group active from 1929 to 1941 as the enforcement arm of the National Crime Syndicate – a criminal organization that included the Italian-American Mafia, the Jewish Mob and others in New York City and elsewhere.

Bogart’s character is based on Burton Turkus, who led the prosecutions of several members of the Murder, Inc. gang. Ted de Corsia’s Joe Rico is inspired by Abe Reles, who was found dead just as he was about to testify against a major crime lord.

The Enforcer [Murder, Inc] is directed by Bretaigne Windust and Raoul Walsh (uncredited), runs 87 minutes, is produced by United States Pictures, is distributed by Warner Bros, is written by Martin Rackin, is shot in black and white by Robert Burks, is produced by Milton Sperling, and is scored by David Buttolph.

The cast are Humphrey Bogart as District Attorney Martin Ferguson, Zero Mostel as Big Babe Lazick, Ted de Corsia as Joseph Rico, Everett Sloane as Albert Mendoza, Roy Roberts as Captain Frank Nelson, Michael Tolan [Lawrence Tolan] as James (Duke) Malloy, King Donovan as Sgt Whitlow, Bob Steele as Herman, Adelaide Klein as Olga Kirshen, Don Beddoe as Thomas O’Hara, Tito Vuolo as Tony Vetto, John Kellogg as Vince, Jack Lambert as Philadelphia Tom Zaca, Patricia Joiner as Teresa Davis / Angela Vetto, Susan Cabot and Alan Foster.

The title of Murder, Inc is used for a 1960 film with stars Stuart Whitman, May Britt and Henry Morgan.

The title of The Enforcer is used for a 1976 film with star Clint Eastwood.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,809

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com