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By
WAYNE KLEIN
In our quickly shrinking
world it's easy to imagine a plague sparking and
spreading like a wildfire through a city or even
the world. What's forgotten is that it's already
happened; the great flu plaque of 1918 managed to
bring World War I to a premature close. Ironically
if all the soldiers hadn't died of flu, they would
have died on the battlefield in a much prolonged
and protracted battle. I bring that up because
films about the spread of deadly diseases aren't
anything new. "Panic in the Streets" (1950) is
both one of the best 50's noir thrillers and also
one of the first films that uses the threat of
plague as its main focal point. Dr. Clint Reed
(Richard Widmark) and New Orleans Police Captain
Tom Warren (Paul Douglas) must frantically find a
pair of criminals involved with the murder of a
card player who may have been infected with plague
by the victim. Reed and Warren have 48 hours to
find the criminals before they become infectious
and spread plague through the population like a
wildfire -- although it doesn't compare to the
gorefests that pass for suspense thrillers today.
Kazan's eighth film as a director is filled with
long takes influenced by Welles (although far more
naturalistic looking without the unusual angles
that Gregg Toland used on Welles' masterpiece
"Citizen Kane") creating as much suspense by
letting the action play out as the quick cutting
style of Hitchcock and other directors working at
the time. Featuring the lovely and underrated
Barbara Bel Geddes as Widmark's wife, "Panic in
the Streets" continues to astound with its
suspenseful direction and brutal violence. A young
Jack Palance steals the film with his role as
"Blackie" one of the infected criminals and Zero
Mostel appears as the other criminal a year or two
before Kazan ratted him out to the House of
Un-American Activities. A believable, powerful
drama that still resonates today because of
Kazan's on location shooting and powerful
down-to-earth performances. Writer Murphy and
Kazan would frequently allow the actors to
improvise some of their scenes changing dialogue
around to bring a sense of spontaneity. Kazan's
film, unlike many of the time, shows
interdepartmental conflicts slowing down the hunt
for the infected men.
Although there's no information on restoration, I
have no doubt that Fox did some work on improving
the image quality of this early Kazan classic
film. Featuring rich, deep blacks, nice textures
and sharp images "Panic in the Streets" looks
exceptionally good considering that the film is
over 50 years old. Viewers have the choice of
listening to the film in its original mono
configuration or an artificial "stereo"
soundtrack. Both sound good but I'd give the edge
to the mono sound, as the fake stereo effect is a
bit distracting at times.
Unfortunately, we don't have any featurettes or
documentaries on any of the stars from the film. I
seem to call A&E Biographies on both Jack Palance
and Richard Widmark and am a bit puzzled as to why
they weren't licensed for this project. Perhaps
it's because this is a lower profile classic film
that doesn't have the built in audience of, say,
"Laura" or "Letter to Three Wives." We do get the
theatrical trailer for the film as well as four
trailers for four other Fox Noir Classics
available on DVD.
A great, involving commentary track authors and
film historians James Ursini and Alain Silver is a
highlight of this release. The authors point out
Kazan's more straightforward style relying much
more on lighting the actors to maintain the mood
of the film. There are also scenes here that are
echoed in later Kazan films such as "On the
Waterfront" and "A Streetcar Named Desire."
A sharp, vivid looking transfer for this classic
noir is a highlight of "Panic in the Streets."
It's a pity that there's no background on the
production of the movie provided in the form of a
featurette or documentary. As it is, though, we
get plenty of information from the two film
historians and authors on the commentary tracks
and their efforts aren't as dry as some
commentators. We also get the original theatrical
trailer as well as four original trailers for
other Fox Noir DVDs. |
