CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

tomsview I remember seeing "Hell on Frisco Bay" at a matinée in the mid 1950's. At the time, I thought it was dead boring.I guess there was no way an action-orientated 10-year old was going to appreciate scenes of people standing around chatting in fairly ordinary looking rooms, and even at that age I could tell that the fight at the end used a lot of rear projection. Although I can now appreciate other things about the film, back then I felt it could have been called "Mild Disturbance on Frisco Bay".Alan Ladd gave a typical low-key performance as Steve Rollins, a cop sentenced for murder who is paroled from prison looking to clear his name and seek revenge on the man responsible for the crime. But he is embittered and suspects his wife, Marcia (Joanne Dru), of unfaithfulness.Alan Ladd was an actor we knew well in those days. He was a little guy who carried himself with the confidence of a big guy, and his stillness actually dominated the screen. His movies, which included plenty of westerns, were the sort that usually had us lining up on Saturday afternoons. Along with George Montgomery and Audie Murphy, my peer group knew him better than Marlon Brando – "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "The Fugitive Kind" would have had that audience rolling Jaffa balls down the isles in no time at all.Edward G Robinson plays Victor Amato the mafia-like controller of the San Francisco waterfront – he's nasty to friend and foe alike. He's a different kind of godfather who lives quite modestly, but it's all about power for him.Joanne Dru was a gorgeous-looking actress. Apparently she had a stormy private life that belied the stoic, long suffering character she plays in this movie. I was sorry to read that she had such ill health towards the end of her life – lymphedema for God's sake – getting old sucks."Hell on Frisco Bay" had good location work around San Francisco for the exteriors and some of the dreariest studio sets for the interiors where the camera work was of the set it up and stand in front of it variety.The film doesn't really hold up against the avalanche of good crime movies and television series made over the intervening decades, but the stars are unique, and I must admit, I still have a soft spot for Alan Ladd's movies.

Arnold Kunert The original title for "Hell on Frisco Bay" was "Hell on the Docks." Apparently, either Warner Bros. or Alan Ladd, whose company, Jaguar, produced the film, thought the title wasn't colorful enough or specific enough about its location, so "Frisco Bay" was substituted just prior to the film's release. I have a few stills with the original title printed on them.This film, like others produced by Ladd in the 1950s, including Delmer Daves' Western, "Drum Beat," has not appeared on DVD because, according to a Warner Bros Archives Edition executive, the Ladd estate has not permitted its release."Drum Beat" just appeared on Turner Classic Movies in its original CinemaScope format, but it was shorter than its published length of 111 minutes by at least four minutes. No US DVD release is imminent.

White Cloud Unless you happened to have seen this movie on TV, you have probably not seen it. It has not been released for DVD, although it is a big budget movie filmed in Cinemascope. Like most Cinemascope films of the time, it brings in the flavor of the locale with panorama shots. I see it a a period piece first and film noir only because of Robinson. For its time, it was incredibly gritty.Robinson is the classic Little Ceasar, and his performance carries the movie. Ladd may have been miscast, but carries the part OK. The dynamic boat-ride ending may be commonplace now, but was a real innovation at the time.I have always wondered why this film was not released on tape or DVD. Perhaps its the title, since San Franciscans loath the nickname "Frisco."

bkoganbing In Hell on Frisco Bay Alan Ladd who also produced this film plays an ex-cop who's served five years on a manslaughter rap for which he was wrongly convicted. Of course as in the case of noir films he's on a mission to find the real killer and clear himself.It doesn't take him long to sniff out a trail that leads to San Francisco underworld boss Edward G. Robinson. Robinson is easily the best in the cast. He's as malevolent as he was in Little Caesar or at least in Key Largo. It's not that Hell on Frisco Bay is a bad film, but it's all so routine for Alan Ladd. He would not transition into character roles as he hit his forties. His legion fans which were gradually dwindling by this time still wanted their guy in action hero parts.He's not terribly animated here. I wouldn't have been surprised if he was ill during the making of this. In a way that might have helped the believability factor. Five years in jail would have given him a certain prison pallor to his complexion.Alan Ladd liked having friends around and the cast here is filled with players who were close personal friends and/or co-workers from his Paramount days. They include, Anthony Caruso, George J. Lewis, Peter Hansen, Perry Lopez, William Demarest. Look for young Rod Taylor as a contract killer and Jayne Mansfield in her screen debut as a bimbo.Joanne Dru plays the estranged Mrs. Ladd and was probably grateful to be in a modern setting. Paul Stewart gives a memorable performance as Robinson's chief henchman along with his lady love Fay Wray who played a former movie star who was keeping company with Stewart. Their relationship with Robinson is the key to the story.Cinemascope and noir usually don't mix, but in this case with the final scene being a police chase and fight with speedboats across San Francisco bay, cinemascope helped greatly.Fans of both Alan Ladd and Edward G. Robinson will enjoy this film.