The Underworld Story (1950) User Reviews (24)

Good Role for Duryea

[abooboo-2 · 8/10 · 30 November 1999]

What makes this little crime movie as effective as it is, has something to do with the casting of unconventional Dan Duryea in the lead as the unscrupulous reporter. He's a lot like Willem Dafoe with the way he talks out of the bottom of his mouth - like a ventriloquist's dummy - and I mean that in a good way. Had they cast a more conventional leading man in the part like a Jimmy Stewart, for example, I don't think it would've worked as well, because Duryea really does come across as quite a heel, a low-life. It just isn't clear to the viewer if he should root for him or not, so that when he does undergo a change in character, it comes as a surprise rather than a foregone conclusion.

The movie also provides Howard Da Silva with one of his last roles before he was to be blacklisted for over 10 years. Always good at playing thugs, he's quite colorful and does a lot of scenery chewing as a powerful crime figure.

The script is intelligent and gritty, and the photography is appropriately stark and oppressive.

Adroitly crafted newspaper story an oblique commentary on Hollywood witch hunt

[bmacv · 7/10 · 24 May 2003]

Deceptively titled, The Underworld Story boasts only tenuous connections to organized crime. It's a newspaper story that centers around a high-profile murder with racial overtones. But its crusading tone and topical allusions never grow strident and don't overwhelm some adroit plotting and incisive character study.

Big-city reporter Dan Duryea finds himself in a jam that makes him persona non grata to his newspaper, the district attorney's office and underworld boss Howard Da Silva. Broke and blacklisted, he buys himself a partial stake in a struggling community paper, The Lakewood Gazette, owned by Gale Storm, who's put off by his brash ways and temporizing ethics. But a headline story breaks right there in the idyllic New England town: The daughter-in-law of press baron Herbert Marshall has been murdered, and Duryea seizes the chance to run with the scoop.

It's not a whodunit, though; the killer, it's clear from the outset, is Marshall's snivelling son (Gar Moore, who sounds like HAL the computer). But when the murdered woman's black maid (Mary Anderson) goes missing, Marshall sees opportunity to whip up public sentiment against her. Storm, who knew the maid, trusts in her innocence; Duryea, on the other hand, waits to see which outcome might profit him most. When The Gazette starts a defense fund for Anderson, Marshall and his son start running scared and seek a favor from Da Silva to put a stop to the tenacious Duryea, who's been won over by Storm....

The Underworld Story's a modest movie that's well put together (it looks great, too, photographed by Stanley Cortez, who also shot The Magnificent Ambersons and Night of the Hunter). But it belongs to Duryea, who could play affable but slithery better than anybody, and his twists and turns keep us guessing.

Reminiscent of ‘30s socially-conscious cinema more than film noir, The Underworld Story also shows that decade's story-telling verve. It's been purged of preaching, so when one character remarks `Looks like they're burning witches again,' we suddenly recall that its release came in the midst of the Hollywood anti-Communist witch hunt, and that at least two of its principals – director Cy Endfield and Da Silva – were among its victims.

Good Duryea Bit

[gordonl56 · 8/10 · 30 August 2014]

THE UNDERWORLD STORY – 1950

A rather unseen film, that deserves to be better known, particularly among noir fans.

Dan Duryea plays a reporter on a big city newspaper who gets himself blacklisted. He wrote a story that ended up getting a Police witness deep-sixed. He is more or less persona non grata with any big town newspapers. He borrows some cash and buys a half interest in a small New England paper ran by Gale Storm.

For Duryea, it is perfect timing. A murder has happened in town, and it involves the daughter in law of big time newspaper owner, Herbert Marshall. Duryea dives in looking to make a big financial score by selling the deal before the wire services do.

Duryea, a less than "upright" newsman makes like a salesman as he wheels and deals the story. His new partner, Gale Storm is not in the least impressed with Duryea.

The audience knows right off the bat who the killer is. It is the dead woman's husband, Gar Moore. The Police though, are looking for the dead woman's Negro maid, Mary Anderson. And she looks guilty as hell as she had been in the city selling the dead woman's jewels.

Duryea sees an even bigger chance at a money making story. He starts up a defence fund for the maid. He hires a lawyer who agrees to split the fund with Duryea. Needless to say some roadblocks pop up for Duryea and his schemes.

This is a very entertaining film, with cast and crew all excellent. The direction of Cy Endfield is spot on. Endfield's work includes, THE SOUND OF FURY, HELL DRIVERS, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND, ZULU and SANDS OF THE KALAHARI. The look of the film is equally good with Stanley Cortez handling the cinematography duties.

Well worth a watch.

Title is misleading - but a solid 'B' picture anyway

[GManfred · 9 June 2010]

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.

Dan Duryea as an enigmatic reporter

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 23 December 2022]

Dan Duryea stars as Mike Reese, a big-city newspaperman who is black-balled out of town after publishing a story that helps a mobster rub out an informant. Reese settles in the nearby small town of Lakewood, where he buys a half interest in a newspaper owned by Cathy Harris (Gale Storm). Just as soon as he does, the biggest story to hit Lakewood in decades breaks: the daughter-in-law of E. J. Stanton (Herbert Marshall), the town's wealthiest resident, is found murdered. Reese's experience at bigger papers helps the little operation get the scoop on the out-of-town outfits, but it places Reese and Cathy in the cross-hairs of powers more dangerous than they realize.

A mash-up of newspaper drama, small-town expose, and gangster picture, some of this works, but not a lot. The Reese character is neither helped or hindered by the casting of Duryea: if it was the filmmakers' intention to keep the audience guessing whether or not he was a slime ball at heart or was decent beneath the surface, then Duryea is a good pick, as I still wasn't sure by the end how much of a creep he really was. I say all of this as somebody who is an overall big fan of Dan Duryea. Marshall was awful, turning in an amateur-level performance during his big emotional scenes, although he was never exactly great at that kind of thing. Gale Storm didn't make much of an impression, either. Howard DaSilva has a couple of good scenes as the chief gang boss. This was the final film appearance for Edward Van Sloan, who had been a mainstay in Universal's horror films of the 1930's.

Chaotic neutral

[nickenchuggets · 7/10 · 23 August 2022]

The Underworld Story is quite an unusual noir movie because it actually brings racism to the forefront for about half its runtime. This was the early 50s, and most people knew by now that black Americans were getting unfairly treated for an extremely long time, but not many producers would dare make a film detailing this. The movie isn't strictly focused on this though. At its core, it is still a noir starring one of the genre's most iconic actors: Dan Duryea. I first saw him in Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street, now one of my favorite films ever, so I was excited to observe his performance here. The movie starts off strong and shows two people getting gunned down by mobsters armed with shotguns firing from a car. Mike (Duryea) is a leftist journalist who gets fired from his job because his writing essentially caused the violent escalation we saw earlier by publishing an article about gangsters. A mob boss named Carl (Howard Da Silva) is so powerful that he effectively gets Mike blacklisted because of his writing, and he has an extremely hard time finding a new job. Eventually, he is hired by a newspaper in a small community known as Lakeville. A girl named Catherine (Gale Storm) is the owner of the paper and she clashes with Mike over how best to run the whole ordeal. What she doesn't know is that Mike got his job at this new place using money he extorted from Carl. Soon, a wealthy woman is killed, and Mike tries to seize this opportunity as his one and only chance to start writing for important papers again. The dead woman was also the daughter in law of Mike's old boss. Things start to heat up for Mike when he learns that a young black woman named Molly (Mary Anderson) is the person who people think is guilty. For Mike, Molly is basically just someone to be written about and paraded in front of the cameras. According to him, he's doing it for a good cause because he wants to prove to everyone that Molly isn't guilty. Meanwhile, Carl and his thugs try to bully Mike into forgetting about the media frenzy. They want everyone's eyes off of Molly for some reason. As it turns out, Mike wants people to believe Molly isn't guilty, but only partially. In reality, Mike is playing both sides and flips back and forth between saying she's guilty/not guilty in order to write profitable articles. Little does everyone know, the real killer of the woman is the son of the newspaper mogul EJ Stanton (Herbert Marshall). Although it looks like Mike is willing to let Molly get lynched just so he can generate more money, his redemption begins when he goes to the penitentiary she is being held in. A lawyer named Becker (Roland Winters) tries to convince Molly that the only way she's going to avoid being hanged (now that she has lost Lakeville's support) is to admit she is guilty. That way, the charge will be reduced to manslaughter instead of murder. While Mike thinks this is a good plan, Molly doesn't and she compares him to a slave trader. After much frustration and heckling from Carl's gang, Mike manages to clear Molly's name using money he raised from a committee whose members are dedicated to proving Molly is innocent. Clark (Stanton's son) is shot and killed by one of his associates, and even after Mike is beaten within an inch of his life, he survives and Catherine is now his girlfriend. I have to say, this is one of the most confusing movies I've seen in a while. I can't explain why, but it seems like there's too much going on. I didn't really like how Duryea's character is portrayed. At first, he basically just utilizes Molly as a subject for his articles, but when Stanton and his powerful newspaper empire threaten to totally crush Lakeville's paper, all the people in the town are now miraculously against Mike's agenda and Molly. Lakeville started out loving her, but it even says that now 89% think she's guilty. It's only after this happens that Mike finally decides to play nice and start crusading for Molly's reputation for real. It's patronizing, it's ridiculous, and when I saw it in the movie, it was laughable. I guess everyone in the town was secretly prejudiced all along. Do I blame Dan for this movie's shortcomings in terms of its story? Of course I don't. He's still a noir icon, and he's played people with questionable motives before, but it's annoying to see him star in a movie that is basically nothing other than Journalists Are Evil: The Film. Overall, because of its mostly confusing storyline, overemphasis on journalism (which is boring for many, many people), stiff acting (except for Dan), and the baffling decision to choose a white actress to play a black character, I would say to give The Underworld Story a miss. I typically like Dan's movies, but this one left much to be desired in my case and I think it'll only please zealous fans of his.

Engaging B movie that needs better plotting

[cherold · 6/10 · 7 April 2017]

In the inexplicably-titled Underworld Story, amoral reporter Dany Duryea uses a small newspaper to gin up controversy over a murder.

After a somewhat slow start in which Duryea's greed and self- centeredness are hammered home, things get interesting with the murder and the arrest of an innocent "negro" played by a white actress. Duryea plays the angles, both for and against her depending on what he thinks will sell newspapers, while other news organizations attack the accused for their own cynical reasons.

This is solid noir stuff, beautifully shot by Stanley Cortez, with solid performances, most notably by Herbert Marshall as a morally conflicted publisher and Harold Da Silva as a jovial mobster.

The main problem is the script, which becomes increasingly unconvincing from the moment Duryea suddenly flips from sleazebag to noble. Being noble seems to also make him remarkably stupid, a stupidity that is then caught by other characters, like Da Silva, who do things for no other reason than to further the plot.

Between the slow beginning and the increasingly absurd end, there is a really enjoyable movie. I almost gave this a 7, but by the end I was feeling to annoyed by the poor plot choices. Still, if you like noir films you should check this out.

First rate "B" noir

[dcole-2 · 10/10 · 8 March 2005]

Dan Duryea is one of the best actors out there, able to play the slimiest slime-ball and the staunchest of heroes. Here he does a little of both and you're never sure which side he's on. The movie starts as a Noir Crime Thriller, then becomes a 30's-style social drama, then switches back to noir and crime -- but it never loses its style, its verve and its pace. Constantly fun and involving, due to Duryea's movable morals -- and to Stanley Cortez's gorgeous black-and-white cinematography. Director/Writer Endfield does a fine job keeping things going, setting up interesting shots and corralling a cast that's great down to every tiny part. Bad Guy Howard Da Silva chews the scenery with relaxed gusto and is a joy to watch. Highly recommended.

***

[edwagreen · 7/10 · 4 April 2017]

After breaking a news-story about someone talking to the government about the mob leads to an assassination of the would-be stool pigeon, the reporter, Dan Duryea, who leaked the story is fired and goes to a small-town to a newspaper run by Gale Storm whose father had just died. He immediately takes over and soon becomes involved in a murder mystery when the daughter-in-law of wealthy paper magnate, Herbert Marshall, is murdered.

We immediately find out who has carried out the dastardly deed and the link is there when the murderer turns to help from the same mobster who had killed the man Duryea had exposed.

Marshall shows his usually icy veneer and one wonders what was really going on between himself and the daughter-in-law.

For myself, the ending came too quickly.

An opportunist slowly becomes a crusader...

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 31 March 2017]

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.

Quick to exploit

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 7 June 2020]

In one one his few starring roles Dan Duryea plays a most cynical newspaper reporter who was fired off his paper and then with money advanced him from gangster Howard DaSylva buys into a small town paper that Gale Storm inherited, but is facing some mountainous debt.

When the murder of the daughter-in-law of town patriarch Herbert Marshall blame falls on he servant Mary Anderson who is black, Duryea is quick to exploit the story from every possible angle.

His exploitation is so crass and cynical that even when he tries to genuinely help no one believes him. Duryea is just great in the role, one of the few anti-heroes he did on screen.

My favorite however is Mary Anderson. Though you could never get away with hiring a white woman for the part now, Anderson is wonderful as the accused murderess and the only real innocent in the cast.

The Underworld Story, an independent from Unite Artists is a real sleeper of a film and an undiscovered gem.

hard hitting unknown film

[grimmfo · 9/10 · 30 April 2003]

The sleeve on the VHS release of "Underworld Story" calls it "a powerful indictment of sensationalistic journalism." But this very interesting little "B" film's real "powerful indictment" is against the methods of the House Un-American Activities Committee in its search, during the late 1940's and early 1950's, for Communists and fellow travelers in America, especially in the film industry. "Underworld Story" was filmed just after HUAC's hearings of 1949/50 had ended. It was released (1951, through United Artists)as the first of the Hollywood Ten were going off to prison. Both director Cyril Enfield and screenwriter Henry Blankfort were "named" as Communists and both ended up blacklisted (as was actor Howard DaSilva). "Underworld Story" is not mentioned in the various books on the Hollywood blacklist, probably because it was an indie genre picture and lacked the cachet of a big-budget major studio effort. But, make no mistake, "Underworld Story" is a savage indictment of witch hunts, moral ambivalence and racism. All this would be very dry, but "Underworld Story" - although the story is familiar (cad sees the light) - is well plotted, well written, and well acted.

white negro

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 14 September 2021]

Unscrupulous reporter Mike Reese (Dan Duryea) gets blamed for the killing of a co-operating gangster after outing him in a story. The DA gets him fired and no one else is willing to hire him. He turns lemons into lemonade by demanding money from gangster Carl Durham. He uses that money to buy his way into a small town newspaper after lying to the owner Cathy Harris. She has second thoughts and then a big local murder happens in the family of newspaper magnate E. J. Stanton. The black maid Molly Rankin gets blamed.

I find Duryea's character very interesting. He projects a lightness despite the sleaziness of the role. The story gets melodramatically dark. The villain uses a bad n-word. It's all very interesting. I would like a more charismatic Cathy Harris. She needs to be the equal and opposite of Reese. As for Molly Rankin, I expected someone with darker skin. I'm not sure why they used a white actress to play a black role. There could be a thematic reason but it's more likely that there is a racist reason. It would be vastly more effective as a race conflict if she's actually black. Of course, she's the only black character on the screen. It could have been something. It's a missed opportunity. Otherwise, it's a great take down of small town and big newspaper.

Duryea isn't the bad guy!

[HotToastyRag · 5/10 · 13 May 2021]

In perhaps the only movie he ever made where he wasn't the bad guy, Dan Duryea gets to play the hero in The Underworld Story. He's a newspaper man in search of the truth. He has ethics and won't bend them, no matter the pressure. When he gets wind of a mysterious death, involving Howard Da Silva and Herbert Marshall, he prints what he believes are the facts. Facts can be misleading, though, and he soon finds himself drawn into a web of deceit and cover-ups.

I'm making this movie sound a little more exciting than it actually it, but I'm happy for Dan to shed his villain shoes for once. If you're a fan of his, you might want to rent it. But if you're just watching it for Herbert Marshall, it's not really worth it. It's not the best noir out there, and it is a tad predictable.

Worth a Closer Look

[dougdoepke · 29 May 2011]

Duryea's Mike Reese has all the scruples of a pinball with about that many scheming twists and turns. It's perfect casting for that unusual performer. Fired from a city newspaper, reporter Reese uses mob money to buy into a sleepy suburban paper, where he exploits a sensational murder for private gain.

For its time, the movie's about as cynical as they come. Still, this crime drama's a genuine sleeper with few punches pulled until the Code enforced ending that unfortunately isn't very convincing. What the story does show in fairly unsparing style is how corruption can reach into a town's highest levels. The narrative is pretty plot heavy so you may need the proverbial scorecard. But it's an intelligent screenplay, providing plausible motivation for the various misdeeds.

I suspect the movie's title comes from the role the underworld plays in doing the dirty work for more respectable members of society, and then exploiting the connection for nefarious purposes (Stanton & Durham). It's the connection between the two worlds that appears to be the main theme. DeSilva plays the mob boss in unusually jovial fashion (perhaps too much), along with occasional hints of snarling menace.

I wouldn't expect a cheerleader type like Gale Storm to be in a crime movie, but she does a believable job as the struggling suburban publisher, put into a fix by her recently deceased dad. I kept expecting something to develop between her and the high-powered Reese, but this is not a movie of clichés.

As I recall, the film was taken to task for casting a white woman (Anderson) in the important role of the "Negro" maid Molly. Now, there's a question of why the maid would be made a Black woman in the first place since her race is not a factor in plot development. And second, why cast an obvious white woman in the part, which only invites unneeded curiosity. I'm not sure what the answers are, but leftist writer Blankfort and director Endfield may have wanted to make a racial statement that didn't make it to the screen. But whatever the reason, the casting remains a false note in an otherwise thoughtful screenplay.

Several notable social themes do emerge. Note how easily a well-meaning public is fleeced by Reese and the shyster lawyer, after offering up their hard earned money to the defense committee. Then there's the town's wealthy establishment that can ruin anyone who crosses them, including Reese and his newspaper. Or the yellow journalism that will print whatever promises to make money. Just as importantly, these key topics play out in fairly subtle, non-preaching fashion.

Director Endfield shows here, as in his powerful Sound of Fury, aka Try and Get Me (1950), that given the chance away from his Joe Palooka programmers, he could do social conscience films with the best of them. Note the many careful touches in this film—the shabby people lined up to donate to the defense committee, the defining bust of Napoleon discretely behind editor Lee's (Dunne) desk, Lee slyly opening the door behind Reese despite what he's saying. Too bad Endfield finished his career in England after falling victim to the blacklist.

All in all, the movie's not as powerful as Sound of Fury, but it does avoid clichés and remains consistently engaging and unpredictable. Endfield appears fascinated in both films with yellow journalism and how it's used to exploit society, a worthy topic for any period. Editor Reese is nothing if not entrepreneurial in his schemes, with the money-making ideas spitting out as fast as a machine gun. It's an impressive lead performance by the great Duryea. Anyway, except for the occasionally cheap sets and unconvincing climax, this obscure indie production remains a genuine sleeper.

Better than usual noir by better than average director

[dfloro · 7/10 · 22 May 2022]

Cyril "Cy" Endfield directed several examples of film noir starting in the late 1940s, such as this one starring Dan Duryea and Herbert Marshall, and Cy was proving to be a better than average director, just as he had proven to be a pretty good screenwriter of short films in the early '40s. Unfortunately, it was the latter that would eventually get him in trouble with the infamous HUAC (specifically, a 17-minute short with the title "Inflation," starring Edward Arnold as the devil himself, which had been labeled-I kid you not--"excessively critical of Capitalism"). Rather than rat on others to the Committee, Cy moved to Britain to make more movies. But not before finishing "The Underworld Story" for US release in 1950. The fairly convoluted plot has a bit of everything: both good & bad journalists, and good & bad law enforcement and, of course, organized crime. And a woman who it turns out was NOT murdered for her jewelry by her maid. So I'm going to give this one a 7/10 rating.

Dan Duryea as Leading Man

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 13 January 2021]

It's nice to see Dan Duryea get the chance to play a leading role, since he was usually relegated to slimy villain roles. But other than that, there's not a whole lot to recommend this pseudo-noir from 1950.

If the film had gone full-on noir it would have been more entertaining, but it's a bit too soft where it should be tough and gritty. And I know it wasn't uncommon at the time, but it's so hard now to not bristle at the sight of a white actress playing a black character. They didn't even make an attempt to make her look black, and I'm not sure whether that's a good or bad thing.

I was really in the mood for a good, juicy noir, and over the course of a few days I watched several movies thinking I would get one, only to be disappointed. And "The Underworld Story" was one of them.

Grade: B-

Powerful Film Unfairly Treated

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 7 July 2006]

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.

Enjoy It For What It Is.

[lrrap · 8/10 · 28 May 2013]

One might choose to ponder the social messages that this film supposedly contains---witch hunts, HUAC investigations, etc---but I'd recommend that you just sit back and enjoy a terrific, well-plotted and fast-moving film.

Not to ignore any social issues that the film might have intended to address, but you're really spinning yer' wheels over very little if you spend too much time looking for them. True, the innocent black maid is framed for murder (and, indeed, Gar Moore's despicable character even utters the "N" word), but it strikes me as just another compelling element in this very intense drama (and if they wanted to make a big social point, why didn't they hire an actual black actress for the part, I wonder?)

Dan Duryea was born to play the role of Mike Reese; he totally dominates the film, and brilliantly. Gale Storm is pretty and has a nice, simple charm about her, but she's totally out of her league alongside Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Howard da Sylva, and Michael O'Shea.

Speaking of da Sylva's role, several other reviewers have cited his "scenery chewing"; I disagree, and strongly. DaSylva, a first-rate actor, is a model of control: suave, witty, affable...a facade which barely manages to conceal a razor-sharp hostility just beneath the surface. It's a masterful, if fairly brief, performance.

Also, it's fascinating to watch "Underworld Story" and discover why the classic "Night of the Hunter" (1955) looks the way it does. Stanley Cortez's bleak, stylized cinematography adds immensely to the atmosphere of "Underworld", especially the near-expressionistic look of the streets and buildings of the town where most of the action takes place.

"Underworld Story" should be regarded as a stand-out example of classic, late 40-s noir.

Will Dan Duryea take the high road eventually?

[clore_2 · 8/10 · 27 March 2012]

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.

Careful tense stares

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 16 August 2014]

Howard Da Silva was underused. He appears briefly in the first few minutes, then he doesn't reappear until the 70 minute mark (it's only a 91 minute movie). I also thought the scriptwriters delayed Marshall's appearance in the film unnecessarily-- and I get that they were establishing the relationship between Duryea and Storm-- but the murder plot really does not get underway until after this long prologue plays out. And the relationship between Duryea and Storm gets seriously backgrounded in the last third of the movie, so what was the point of introducing a romantic subplot only to drop it?

At times I thought the casting of Gar Moore as Marshall's son was off. Clearly, he was the film's weakest actor. I noticed he had done a series of films in Italy in the 40s before signing with Universal (where he undoubtedly met Duryea), and maybe his acting style was a bit unsteady because he was not used to working with these kinds of actors.

The film was obviously shot on a lower budget than most studio productions and its cheapness is evident in the newspaper office scenes which seem to have been shot in some warehouse. But the use of black and white film and lighting that cast shadows on the proceedings to add a level of depth worked to cleverly conceal the cheap looking sets. It helped tremendously when they filmed outdoors in the streets and at the cemetery, which seemed quite authentic.

What I loved most about THE UNDERWORLD STORY was its deliberately slow pacing. If this was a studio B film, the narrative would have been rushed and crammed into 60 minutes. But because they have stretched this out to an hour and a half, we get a lot of extra pauses and reflections and insights to the characters and their motivations. The dialogue was poor in some spots, but pros like Herbert Marshall and Howard Da Silva kept it interesting-- if not for the words they were uttering but for the reactions they were generating and the careful tense stares that seem to go so well with this kind of story.

JOURNALISM AS OPPORTUNITY...!

[masonfisk · 9/10 · 21 June 2020]

Dan Duryea, in a rare lead performance, stars in this 1950 film noir of a morally compromised reporter in over his head. Druyea is the equivalent of an ambulance chasing lawyer only he's a reporter who inserts himself into a story to sensationalize it to its maximum effect which happens at the story's start when he fingers a testifying witness (w/his news story headlines) nearly getting the DA shot when the gangsters attempt a hit. His bosses already frustrated w/this & his past conduct, terminate him but while he's wallowing away his misfortunes in a bar, he comes across an newspaper ad selling a stake in a small town paper. Going hat in hand to the mobster, played by Howard Da Silva, he helped indirectly w/his story, he manages to get the seed money for the newspaper buy. Arriving at the town he finds the environment quaint & storied, not much going for it but when a woman's body turns up, the daughter-in-law of a newspaper tycoon who resides in the sleepy burg, played by Herbert Marshall, Duryea smells a hot lead. The killer in question is Marshall's son but fearing that discovery will ruin him & his family name, his son puts the blame on his wife's friend, a black woman. Duryea, hoping to milk the headlines for all their worth, turns the accused woman in to the authorities & finagles a deal w/a lawyer to defend her (playing on the townsfolk heartstrings they donate monies towards a defense fund which Duryea hopes to split w/the shyster). As public opinion starts to favor the jailed woman, Marshall uses his influence to turn the moral table on our reporter making him persona non grata & to make matters worse, DaSilva & his goons are after him (Marshall's son has cut a deal w/him to have Duryea wiped out). Making his last stand when he's eventually turned over to Marshall & son, Duryea (who's called the DA) waits to see if he's doomed for sure or if the Calvary will arrive for the rescue. A real page turner from start to finish, this film dwells heartily in the moral grey zone w/its direction sharply drawn & wonderfully acted. Ample support is given by Gale Storm playing the owner of the small newspaper, Alan Hale turns up as a big city colleague of Duryea's w/special mention to Gar Moore who is quite good as the murderer who nearly gets away w/it.

Oddball Newspaper Noir

[gortx · 30 April 2017]

A bit of an odd duck of a Newspaper noir. Cy Endfield's film begins promisingly with big city muck, but then detours into the New England countryside. It's more than a bit jarring in tone, as the small town 'quaintness' takes over much of the middle section of the film. Dan Duryea is a noir icon, but, he comes on a bit too strong as the scheming newspaper man (Gale Storm's character should have called the cops and put a restraining order on him).

Things pick up when a black maid is falsely accused of murder (not a spoiler). All of a sudden, the movie returns to its crime roots, and it becomes more than a subtle McCarthy red baiting tale (indeed, several of the filmmakers were soon ensnared, including DaSilva and Endfield). Herbert Marshall is fine as is the full supporting cast, but Howard DaSilva steals the show as a jovial mobster - the more he smiles, the more menacing he becomes.

UNDERWORLD STORY is a mixed bag, but still effective enough in the end, even if the climactic scene is bit too brief. One of the other oddities is that the accused (Mary Anderson) is not only an obviously white actress, but, given precious little screen time. It's been written that the Red Scare aspect gave UNDERWORLD STORY a taint that kept it from being more seen over the years (Warner Classics has re-issued it, and TCM runs the pretty good-looking transfer; a bit noisy on the sound end, though). Would make a good double bill with the similar superior Robert Wise film CAPTIVE CITY (1952) with John Forsythe as a small town newspaper man batting the mob.

Daring subject for Cy Endfield

[searchanddestroy-1 · 22 January 2023]

That's with this movie that director Cy Endfiled was discovered and also problems began for him, just before of course the awesome SOUND OF FURY; two movies that will put Endfield on the black list, because accused of anti American activities, Mc Carthysm red scare that contaminated Hollywood, and not only. It is question of corruption in the newspaper business. A tooic that would have pleased to Samuel Fuller. Dan Duryea is outstanding in this noir drama, more than crime film. A social drama too, where racism is on the scale. And in the early fifties, it was not politically correct to denounce racism.... Endfield eventually paid the price for it. Check the rest of his filmography, mostly made outside the US film industry. And for our greatest pleasure. Duryea's character is cynical here, as Kirk Douglas was in THE BIG CARNIVAL. Yes, Duryea gives here a brilliant performance, not a as real villain, as usual in westerns or film noirs, but not as a "clean" white hero either. Cy Endfield and some other directors of this time could have been compared to French film maker Yves Boisset, the king of politically incorrect subjects.