Runtime: 96 minutes
Directed by: Elia Kazan
Starring: Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, Jack Palance, Barbara Bel Geddes, Zero Mostel
From: 20th Century Fox
Contact tracing in 1950.
The popularity of this film noir has risen since March; it was sadly perfect for viewing during this noirvember 2020 due to the movie's plot. An officer of the United States Public Health Service (Richard Widmark, playing a rare hero role... although he is still on the gruff side) realizes a homicide victim is patient zero for pneumonic plague and he has to contact trace those he came into contact with so they can be inoculated. Otherwise, a plague will start. He sometimes works with a police captain who isn't a believer so of course they bicker w/ each other. “Walter Jack Palance” in his movie debut managed to shine as the big bad villain.
Boy, do some elements come across as eerie in 2020. If I had seen it before this year-and I had known of this film for a few years now-perhaps I think it far-fetched that the government (in this case, the city of New Orleans, Louisiana) would be more concerned about causing a panic than protecting the public from an airborne pathogen, or people scoffing at the advice of those in the field of medicine. Now, I realize the movie was right on the money with such plot devices.
It was a very exciting movie between seeing Palance dealing with his hoodlum underlings and the efforts to contact trace those that came into contact w/ the dead man. Even a few minutes spent with Widmark and his wife discussing his gruff nature and how he treats her was not pointless because that was character growth and development. It also provides good advice for the viewing audience: You shouldn't say “oh, for Pete's sake!” after your wife delivers some (positive) bombshell news to you. Anyhow, Elia Kazan is the director; he's not everyone's favorite due to his real-life actions; to echo a quote in another review, in several of his movies is the moment where someone rats another person or persons out...
This was set and filmed in New Orleans; it's a great city I've visited before-albeit on a family vacation as a child-filled with plenty of distinctive flavor-naturally, an abundance of jazz is heard throughout. Considering the United States is being ravaged by “the second wave” of what I've deemed The Black Plague (the country really screwed the pooch when it came to handling it; that was a big reason of why I did not consider it a threat at first) and the prudent decision has been made to not go on my typical Christmas trip to the Midwest to see family... it was still escapist entertainment to see characters succeed in stopping a horrible virus. That's what I will think of as I still see dumbasses walking around the grocery store or Walmart sans mask.
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