muddlyjames Review of 99 River Street

99 River Street (1953)

Clearly Karlson's best film

[8/10 · 21 January 2002]

• Not the meandering KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL. This one has all his best elements: terse, supremely functional scenes, casual brutality, a visual style emphasizing the coarse, glaring surface of things, a view of the world as one big "con" (with actors (!) featured as moral shysters in this case), and a plot that barrels along like a freight train. It also features a surprisingly sympathetic lead character (great job of low-key acting from Payne)and believable interchanges between him and the good and bad women in the film. The ending is a marvel of staging, lighting, and camera movement. This film is the main basis of Karlson's genuine (if minor) film legacy.