Down Three Dark Streets (1954)

Director:

Arnold Laven

Writers:

Gordon Gordon (screenplay) &
Mildred Gordon (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

2 September 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Down This Street Raced Dead-End Violence... Down This One Stretched Excitement Taut As Silk!

Plot:

When FBI Agent Zack Stewart is killed, Agent John Ripley takes over the three cases he was working on...

Plot Keywords:

FBI Agent | FBI | Law And Order | Wiretapping | Evidence Collection

Cast

Broderick Crawford	...	FBI Agent John 'Rip' Ripley
Ruth Roman	...	Kate Martell
Martha Hyer	...	Connie Anderson
Marisa Pavan	...	Julie Angelino
Max Showalter	...	Dave Millson (as Casey Adams)
Kenneth Tobey	...	FBI Agent Zack Stewart
Gene Reynolds	...	Vince Angelino
William Johnstone	...	FBI Chief Frank Pace
Harlan Warde	...	FBI Agent Greg Barker
Jay Adler	...	Uncle Max Charles Martell
Claude Akins	...	Matty Pavelich
Suzanne Alexander	...	Brenda Ralles
Myra Marsh	...	Mrs. Downes
Joe Bassett	...	Joe Walpo aka Joe Allen

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Hollywood Sign, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Edward Small Productions

One of those semi-documentary crime movies

Broderick Crawford as Agent Ripley takes over three cases for a murdered FBI man in "Down Three Dark Streets," a 1954 film also starring Ruth Roman, Marisa Pavan, Martha Hyer, and Max Showalter.

This is one of those police or FBI films done in semi-documentary style that abounded in the '50s. Each woman is involved in a crime; Roman is being threatened with her daughter's life if she doesn't turn over her late husband's insurance money; Pavan is the blind wife of a man jailed for being involved in car theft, but he won't reveal any information about the ring; and Hyer is the girlfriend of a wanted killer who is on the run. When two murders occur, Ripley is convinced they're tied to one of the cases, but which one? Great '50s LA sites are a highlight of this film, along with a suspenseful ending. The story involving Ruth Roman was done as a suspense movie but Blake Edwards later on as "Experiment in Terror" with Glenn Ford as Ripley.

There is one major plot hole I must point out. One of the FBI men follows a character to a department store, where she takes a girdle to try on and goes into a dressing room. The operative asks if there's an exit behind the dressing rooms and is told yes, there's a staircase leading to a back entrance. Well, all I can say is, that store must have had hundreds of thousands of dollars in shoplifted merchandise yearly if that was the case.