Pier 23 (1951)

Director:

William Berke

Writers:

Herbert H. Margolis (story) and
Lou Morheim (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

11 May 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Sport

Tagline:

GANGLAND GALAHAD! He's a cop's pet peeve... and a gal's pet passion!

Plot:

Private detective finds himself framed for the murders of a wrestler and a crooked referee, then for the murder of a mystery man posing as a new parolee from Alcatraz.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Convict | Alcatraz | Private Detective | Wrestling

Cast

Hugh Beaumont	...	Dennis O'Brien
Ann Savage	...	Ann Harmon
Edward Brophy	...	Prof. Shicker
Richard Travis	...	Police Inspector Lt. Bruger
Margia Dean	...	Flo Klingle
Mike Mazurki	...	Ape Danowski
David Bruce	...	Charles Giffen
Raymond Greenleaf	...	Father Donovan
Eve Miller	...	Norma Harmon
Harry Hayden	...	Dr. Earl J. Tomkins
Joi Lansing	...	The Cocktail Waitress (as Joy Lansing)
Peter Mamakos	...	Nick Garrison
Chris Drake	...	Mike Greeley - aka Joe Harmon
John Indrisano	...	Mushy Cavelli (as Johnny Indrasano)
Bill Varga	...	Willie Klingle
Richard Monahan	...	Henry - Bartender
Charles Wagenheim	...	Lefty - Policy Man
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Heinie Conklin	...	Counter Man (uncredited)
Kit Guard	...	Drunk at Wrestling Match (uncredited)

Directed by
William Berke

Writing credits
Herbert H. Margolis		(story) (as Herbert Margolis) and
Lou Morheim		(story) (as Louis Morheim)
Julian Harmon		(screenplay) and
Victor West		(screenplay)

Produced by
William Berke	....	producer
Jack Leewood	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Bert Shefter

Cinematography by
Jack Greenhalgh

Film Editing by
Carl Pierson
Harry Reynolds

Art Direction by
Frank Paul Sylos		(as F. Paul Sylos)

Set Decoration by
Harry Reif

Makeup Department
Paul Stanhope	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
John Francis Murphy	....	assistant director (as J. Francis Murphy)

Art Department
Leigh Carson	....	property master
Tom Kemp	....	construction supervisor

Sound Department
Glen Glenn	....	sound

Special Effects by
Ray Mercer	....	special effects

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Alfred Berke	....	wardrobe (as Al Berke)

Other crew
Diane	....	handknits and fashions
Stanley Price	....	dialogue coach

Production Companies

• Spartan Productions

Distributors

• Lippert Pictures (1951) (USA) (theatrical)
• Kit Parker Films (2004) (USA) (all media)

Also Known As:

"Flesh and Leather" - USA (TV title)

Runtime:

USA:58 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #15044)

Company:

Spartan Productions

Trivia:

Edited down to each of its two segments, each of them re-titled, this was sold to television in the early 1950's as two parts of a syndicated half hour mystery show.

The marriage of radio, films and television

In the early days of television (circa late-40s to early 50s)the makers of many of the cheapjack, poverty-row syndicated series---Guy Madison's Wild Bill Hickock, Reed Hadley's Racket Squad, others) would take two or three of the 30-minute television episodes, stitch them together and peddle them to the small-town and/or b-feature theatre-exhibitors as a "NEW" feature-length film. The film-exhibitors knew better, but most of these films were booked into towns and areas of the country where television coverage was, at best, spotty and often non-existent. Basically, a large percentage of the audience that saw these "films" in a theatre didn't own a television set or live in an area that had a television station. Plus, there was the large-and-profitable overseas market to be tapped.

Exhibitor-producer-distributor-showman Robert L. Lippert took this concept in another direction; his plan was to make three feature films, each of which had two separate 30-minute plots with continuing characters, book them into theatres and, after, they had exhausted the B-feature theatrical-circuit, cut them in half and sell the six 30-minute segments to television. Either as a series or a stand-alone 30-minute gap-filler.

Thusly was born "Pier 23", "Roaring City" and "Danger Zone." Three films in six segments featuring a San Francisco, hard-boiled private-eye named Dennis O'Brien. Made for theatres with intent-to-sell-to television. William Berke---has anyone actually ever seen a billing credit for him as William A. Berke...don't bother, the answer is no---directed and produced all three films with screen plays credited to Julian Harmon and Victor West on all. And each carried a "based on a story by Herbert H. Margolis and Louis Morheim" credit. And where did these "based-ons" come from? Well, each and everyone of them had been "heard" before when they were used on a syndicated radio-series called "Pat Novak, For Hire." Mr. Novak was a hard-case, San Francisco private-eye who averaged getting knocked-out twice in every 30-minute radio episode. Dennis O'Brien maintains that average when he gets his about four times in each of these three films.