Port of New York (1949)

Two narcotics agents go after a gang of murderous drug dealers who use ships docking at the New York harbor to smuggle in their contraband.

Director:

Laslo Benedek

Writers:

Eugene Ling (screenplay), Leo Townsend (additional dialogue)

Stars:

Scott Brady, Richard Rober, K.T. Stevens

Cast

Cast overview:
Scott Brady	...	Michael 'Mickey' Waters
Richard Rober	...	Jim Flannery
K.T. Stevens	...	Toni Cardell
Yul Brynner	...	Paul Vicola
Arthur Blake	...	Dolly Carney
Lynne Carter	...	Lili Long
John Kellogg	...	Lenny
William Challee	...	Leo Stasser

Storyline

Agents Mickey Waters and John Flannery re-team to investigate the theft of medicinal narcotics from the S.S. Florentine. The vicious gang responsible is headed by the ruthless, but debonair Paul Vicola, who doesn't hesitate to murder anyone who stands in his way. Vicola's girlfriend is garroted when she becomes unreliable, and when go-between nightclub comic Dolly Carney poses a risk, he is thrown from his apartment window. After Waters is shot and killed trying to break into the gang's Brooklyn-based yacht club front, Flannery decides to go undercover and pose as a San Francicco drug dealer. The gang is smoked out and after a furious gun battle, Vicola is apprehended and his gang broken.

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Plot Keywords:

man murders a woman | man slaps a woman | narcotics | drugs | murder | 

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Taglines:

No crime too vicious ... no justice too swift for the Merchants of Death who lurk in its shadows !

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 November 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rauschgiftbrigade

Filming Locations:

Wilmington, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aubrey Schenck Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Coast Guard ship in the film, CG-83327, was built by Wheeler Shipbuilding of Brooklyn, New York in 1942. It served as a safety/rescue ship during the Normandy invasion during WWII. It was sold in 1963 and became the yacht "Huntress", before being scrapped in 1972. The other Coast Guard ship, CG-83320 had a similar history, but was disposed of by scuttling in 1962.

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Quotes

Paul Vicola: Tie him up. Mr. Wylie's leaving the boat.

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Connections

Featured in Yul Brynner: The Man Who Was King (1995)

User Reviews

Has Its Moments

Good gritty docu-drama of the procedural sort made popular by The Naked City (1948). Here we follow a Customs agent (Rober) and a Treasury agent (Brady) as they track down a gang of narcotics smugglers headed by a hirsute Yul Brynner in his first film. Unlike most docu- dramas of the period, this one is not overly diverted by procedure. Instead, the drama plays out in pretty tense fashion. Happily, the rather complex storyline is fashioned smoothly by director Benedek, despite the many segues. Then too, the live shots of New York are especially revealing to a non-New Yorker like myself, even if they are decades old.

The faces in the movie also furnish a boost. There're the three gimlet-eyed hard cases (Challee, Stevens, Kellogg), the exotic looking Brynner, and the two meek-looking fall-guys (Blake, Carter), while Rober and Brady are appropriately clean-cut and strong-jawed. Brynner, of course, is particularly notable for his effortless accent and Euro-Asian appearance. The latter seems appropriate for a time when the Cold War was heating up. Thus Hollywood's lauding law enforcement at a tense time comes as no surprise.

Except for Brynner and a couple jarring scenes as when Brynner turns on the disloyal Stevens, there's nothing particularly memorable here. Just solid entertainment done in highly competent fashion.