Panic In The Streets

Released by: Fox
Released on:
Director: Elia Kazan
Cast: Richard Widmark, Paul Douglas, Jack Palance, Barbara Bel Geddes
Year: 1950
Purchase From Amazon

The Movie:

Directed by Elia Kazan and released in 1950, Panic In The Streets begins when the cops find a dead body stashed amongst the debris of the docks in New Orleans. Though the cops figure the victim died from the gunshot wounds on his body, a public health official named Lieutenant. Commander Clint Reed (Richard Widmark) thinks that there might be something more to it, given that the body shows some odd symptoms. When it turns out that the body is contaminated with the pneumonic plague, he and New Orleans Police Department Captain Tom Warren (Paul Douglas) butt heads over how best to handle this. Reed knows that if they don't figure out who came in contact with the man and quarantine them soon, that the city will soon fall pretty to an outbreak of the plague that could result in the deaths of thousands of people and that if they don't do this immediately, it will soon be impossible to control.

So the hunt is on through the Eastern European immigrant community of New Orleans, as Reed and Warren try to track down the man's killer, a thug named Blackie (Jack Palance) and his lackie, Raymond (Zero Mostel). Reed and Warren soon find out, however, that the immigrants like to keep themselves and don't like cops and government officials snooping around in their business. Time soon starts to run out, with countless lives hanging in the balance.

Beautifully shot in stark black and white by cinematographer Joseph MacDonald and set to a great score by composer Alfred Newman, Kazan's film does a great job of taking us on a tour of the seedy side of the New Orleans of the day. From the piers to the dive bars to the dingy apartments to the grubby, shadowy back alleys the location photography makes the city as much a character in the movie as any of the humans on screen. The fact that nobody in the movie actually sounds like they're from Louisiana is almost a moot point, the movie is so beautiful and mysterious looking that you can easily get wrapped up in the tense, humid atmosphere and overlook casting details like that.

The leads, however, all turn in great work. Widmark is excellent as the increasingly determined man out to save the day and his back and forth with curmudgeonly Douglas is believable and adds some interesting depth to their respective characters. A young Jack Palance, looking almost skeletal in his feature film debut, is wonderfully slippery as the murderous Blackie while Mostel steals most of the scenes he appears in playing the equally slimy Raymond. The lovely Barbara Bel Geddes has a small supporting role as Warren's wife, Nancy, but isn't given a whole lot to do outside of act supportive and add a bit of emotional attachment for the audience to feel for. It's not deep, but it works and she looks great.

The film is brisk, paced and edited in such a way as to hit the ground running, though the suspense stays with the film right through to the end. The concept of the immigrant community not wanting to deal with the cops adds some interesting twists to the story and remains something used in entertainment to this day (think Breaking Bad where the Mexicans simply will not deal with the police). It adds a layer of secrecy to things and helps ensure that the script doesn't show its hand too early. All in all, a great mix of noir styling, action set pieces and thick tension shot with care and performed by a game cast make this one well worth revisiting.

Video/Audio/Extras:

Panic In The Streets looks very nice on Blu-ray from Fox, framed properly at 1.33.1 and presented in AVC encoded 1080p high definition. It's hard not to notice considerably improved detail and texture that this high definition presentation offers over the DVD. There's a very nice, natural amount of film grain evident throughout but nothing in the way of serious print damage to note - this looks very good. Fine detail is strong not just in facial close ups but throughout the movie, you'll notice it in the faces of the cast but also in the sets and costumes - check out the wood grain in the scene that takes place under the pier towards the end of the movie. Shadow detail looks excellent, black levels are nice and strong and never murky while the whites and grays remain consistent, never overblown or washed out. There's no evidence of noise reduction or edge enhancement here, and it's really hard to imagine the movie looking a whole lot better than it does on this disc.

The default audio track for the feature is an English language DTS-HD Mono mix, though Dolby Digital Mono tracks are offered in French and Spanish with subtitles provided in English SDH, Dutch, French and Spanish. The tense score sounds great here while dialogue is nice and natural sounding. There are no problems to note with any hiss or distortion and the levels are properly balanced throughout. Though the mix shows the limitations of the original audio you certainly can't fault it for that - this is a nice mix, it sounds very good considering the age of the film.

Carried over from the previous DVD release is the informative audio commentary from film historians Alain Silver and James Ursini. They do a great job of discussing the history of the picture and the cast and crew who made it, but also make some interesting observations about the state of the country at the time the movie was made and how some of that seeps into the picture. We also get a very good forty-four minute TV special that details Jack Palance's life entitled From Grit To Grace. It's basically a 'Biography' style piece that follows his life from the early days in Pennsylvania to his work as one of Hollywood's greatest character actors. Richard Widmark also gets some attention here with a similar forty-four minute profile entitled Strength Of Character. Aside from that, look for a trailer for the feature, static menus and chapter selection.

The Final Word:

Panic In The Streets is an excellent movie. While in many ways it is a product of the era in which it was made, it still remains a tense and intelligent thriller with the ability to keep you riveted to the action. Fox's Blu-ray release presents the film in great shape and with some choice extras too. Just a really great release overall.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!