New York Confidential [Import]

NEW YORK CONFIDENTIAL (1955) was one of the two missing "Holy Grail's" of Film Noir. [The other, still missing, is BLACK TUESDAY (1954) with Edward G. Robinson.]

Historically, the movie is a "bridge" between the gang-oriented mobster classics of the 1930s-40s (e.g. LITTLE CAESAR, PUBLIC ENEMY, HIGH SIERRA, WHITE HEAT) and THE GODFATHER. It is one of the earliest films to deal with "organized crime" on a national level, a topic that had been front-page news in the 1950s during Senator Kefauver's Congressional Crime Hearings.

Though "suggested" by a 1950s sensational expose' book by Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer, the screenplay by Clarence Greene and Russell Rouse appears to be a work of total fiction.

There is a lot to like in this movie, but it does have its problems.

On the plus side, it boasts a stellar cast of players, not the least of whom is Broderick Crawford, at his snappy-talking, "bull-in-a-china-shop" best. And yet, there are scenes in which he is allowed to exhibit a softer, more humorous side.

Richard Conte is also fine as Crawford's steely-eyed "hatchet man," the kind of role he had played many times, and Anne Bancroft is terrific as Crawford's self-destructive daughter who is ashamed that her father is a mobster.

Other effective players are Marilyn Maxwell, J. Carrol Naish and Mike Masurki.

The picture has several good action sequences involving contract killings, particularly the one in which Mazurki murders a Washington lobbyist that borrows a page from the Alfred Hitchcock suspense handbook.

I saw NEW YORK CONFIDENTIAL first run in 1955 (I was 14), and I recall being quite taken with this film that "exposed" organized crime.

Viewing it today, however, I still find it to be fairly entertaining, but it doesn't really hold up as well as some of its gangster predecessors (e.g. WHITE HEAT, HIGH SIERRA). That's because it IS an "expose'," and what was shocking back in 1955 is kind of old hat in 2010. This is, indeed, a film of its time.

The screenplay by Greene and Rouse is a bit "talky," primarily because the writers were trying to make the now well-worn point that much of the country, right up to and including the U.S. Congress, is controlled (or, at least, influenced) by organized crime.

The characters and their family problems are certainly interesting and dramatic, but they lack any real texture, such as you find in THE GODFATHER or even its less successful predecessor, THE BROTHERHOOD (1968), which starred Kirk Douglas.

Rouse directed the picture in a leisurely style, reminiscent of the television version of THE UNTOUCHABLES. Frankly, I think that somebody like Raoul Walsh or Phil Karlson would have infused the movie with a more needed energy.

Despite those minor reservations, I am thankful that VCI Entertainment has made this long missing film available and, as an aficionado of the gangster movie, I am delighted to have it in my collection.

© Michael B. Druxman

I liked new york confidential.it's really the kind of movie that if you do not love gangster movies dont waste your time watchin it. I love gangster movies and I thought this was fairly good. It was about big time mobsters and their connections with powerful people like politicians in washington. the movie was fairly well done.It had broderick crawford as a mob boss, anne brancroft as his sexy,tough daughter (as was mentioned before anne bancroft real name is anna marie italiano) and her italian toughness helps the movie along. she is not afraid to talk tough to her dad broderick crawford and richard conte.Richard conte plays broderick crawfords cold, calculating hit man who does his hits with a straight face while ignoring the come ons of sexy ladies like anne bancroft and marilyn maxwell.the movie also has a very welcome addition in casting the huge mike mazurki as a fearsome mobster( you may remember mike mazurki from "farwell my lovely" with dick powell and "some like it hot" as one of george rafts mobsters.)overall I liked the movie but it seemed a little low budget a better director like raoul walsh who directed "high seirra" with humphrey bogart or even john huston who directed "asphalt jungle" could of made this a better more exciting gangster movie! richard conte's first mob hit in the movie is the one to watch(where he is reading the paper and the rival gangsters want him to leave. classic gangsterism!)

-I sincerely hope that three time's a charm -

This is my third adjustment of my review of this film.

First, I love this film, mainly because of the good story, and wonderful characterizations of the lead actors, each in roles refreshingly different from their usual roles. Broderick Crawford and Richard Conte both manage to make their mafia boss / chilly assassin both frighful and likable. Anne Bancroft is wonderful, too, in a moving, deeply layered role, albeit with regrettably short screen time.

My single caveat concerns this transfer, which IN MY OPINION has too much cut off from the bottom of the image, and too much headroom. However since even cinema experts seem to have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm probably the only person in the world who finds fault with this; thus it's unlikely that it will distract anyone else, and therefore I will no longer subtract any stars, and recommend this DVD to anyone who wishes to see this excellent film.

Thanks for reading