Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

MartinHafer When the story begins, newspaper man Mike Reese (Dan Duryea) is fired from a big city paper for unethical conduct...conduct that resulted in someone's murder by the local mob boss, Durham (Howard Da Silva). Not surprisingly, he's fired and no one will hire him.He soon finds himself in a small town and gets himself a job with a tiny, unimportant paper. However, when a rich and very important lady is murdered, he sees it as a chance to make it back to the big time papers. He champions the cause of the woman accused of the murder-- even though he probably doesn't believe in her innocence at all. However, through the course of the film something interesting happens...folks, including Durham, start pressuring Mike to drop the story. So, there must be something to all this and the fix is on...and suddenly the opportunistic and soulless guy is read to risk his life to do what is right! But he might just get himself killed in the process...and folks seem more than ready to oblige.While this film isn't strictly a traditional film noir picture in some ways, as the plot isn't at all typical of noir, but it sure is noir in spirit. There are many dark and evil characters you'd see in a noir picture and there also is the morally challenged hero. But what's most noir about this film is the camera-work...with camera angles and shadows that you'd find in any decent noir picture. This film proves that Dan Duryea was a heck of an actor. While he's normally known for playing greasy, pusillanimous jerks, here he has so much more to him and he is a great combination of grit, cynicism and, believe it or not, decency! Overall, a fantastic film that's undergone a recent revival in interest and is now seen by many as a classic. Classic? Yes, I can see that.

clore_2 Mike Reese is a reporter who is about as sleazy as they come. He must be, he's played by Dan Duryea in the Cy Endfield noir gem. Chuck Tatum of ACE IN THE HOLE has nothing on Mike - except that he probably makes a bigger salary.Mike's lost his job because given some confidential info about a mobster's secret testimony, Mike runs it in the paper that employs him which causes the bad guys to know just where to ambush the man testifying. Sure, the paper is equally at fault, but they'll get off by printing an apology, Mike's the scapegoat.With a stake provided by the local New England gangster who benefited most from the silenced witness, Mike buys into another suburban newspaper. Shortly thereafter, the murder of the daughter-in-law of a prominent publisher and the cover-up, as well as the innocent black woman accused of that murder, has Mike manipulating all in his path to make his way back to the top and a few bucks on the side.As the guilty person says of the accused: "She's a n-word, who is going to take her word over ours?" This one is that gritty, but it moves with B movie speed not trying to make a social statement. Or is it? What happened to director Endfield, having to relocate to England owing to HUAC, has some reviewers reading "witch hunt" into the narrative. But if one didn't know the personal history, it's a riveting tale anyway that reveals the levels and layers of corruption and also of the depths of sacrifice. Subtext is just as often the baggage one brings to a film as opposed to what the director installs.Gale Storm, Herbert Marshall, Harry Shannon, Michael O'Shea and Howard da Silva in what seems to be a return to the kind of character he played in THE BLUE DAHLIA all figure prominently. Mary Anderson plays the accused black woman and there's a bit of irony now in that casting (beyond her being Caucasian) - her brother James Anderson played the vicious Bob Ewell in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. She would also play Duryea's wife in CHICAGO CALLING a couple of years later. Both films are highly recommended.

GManfred Why 'The Underworld Story'? I guess there are some underworld types present but the emphasis is not on the underworld. It's a story about a newspaper editor who has lost his moral compass and moves to the sticks. This is one very few pictures in which Dan Duryeas' name is above the title, and he does an excellent job. Those of us who count him among our favorite character actors will not be disappointed in his star turn here. Complete with sardonic grin and usual wisecracks, he is in his element as the editor-in-search-of-scruples.It carries the Warner Bros. patina - a gritty crime melodrama with a mix of social commentary and thick-ear rough stuff, and with a curious collection of supporting characters. Howard Da Silva, Gale Storm, Michael O'Shea and Harry Shannon all do themselves credit and Herbert Marshall(?) also manages to fit in.This is a good semi-noir. It starts off as one but switches in mid-picture to straight drama and then back again. Only 90" long, it holds your interest throughout. It may not sound promising but sometimes you can't judge a movie by its title.

ccthemovieman-1 The more I watch classic films, the more I discover what a great year 1950 was in the movie business. Here's another good film, and one many people are probably unfamiliar with. This one revolves around the newspaper business.Dan Duryea, as usual, is interesting as "Mike Reese," a bad guy-turned-good guy journalist. He is joined in the cast by Herbert Marshall, Gale Storm (one of the great names in show business and who will forever be "My Little Margie" to those of us who were around in the '50s), Howard Da Silva and Michael O'Shea. Of the above-mentioned, Da Silva was the most fascinating, as the brutal mob boss "Carl Durham." He only had a minor role, but some of his lines were outstanding and his role was memorable. Da Silva was a great actor for film noirs. This isn't really a noir, but it's close. Marshall was just fine as the newspaper owner.The film was not kind to the newspaper business, so some media-minded film critics (who probably had columns in daily papers) didn't like this film for that reason. Too bad. They should have liked it, since it had Left Wing written all over it, with several Liberal themes and favorite catch-phrases such as "witch hunts" (one of their all-time favorites).Nonetheless, it's a powerful film and well-acted.