Is it too soon for pandemic noir? Actually, these two movies from 1950 are about outbreaks and epidemics, not really pandemics. But heroic public health officers are central in both, just like in today’s COVID-19 pandemic. Both Panic in the Streets and The Killer that Stalked New York are among my Overlooked Noir.
First, there’s irector Elia Kazan’s noirish thriller Panic in the Streets This Kazan’s OTHER movie set in a gritty waterfront, and he shot it on location in New Orleans. In his screen debut, Jack Palance plays a hoodlum who commits a murder and unknowingly becomes infected with pneumonic plague. Richard Widmark plays the public health expert who is trying to prevent an epidemic by tracking down Patient Zero (Palance) without causing a panic in the city. Of course, the cops are trying to solve the murder, and the man hunt for the murderer will lead them to the same target. Jack Palance was nothing if not intense, and he brings the right combination of vicious thuggery and escalating desperation to his performance.
You might have difficulty imagining a movie procedural of Public Health officers quelling an epidemic being described as “lurid”, but then there’s The Killer that Stalked New York. The star is Evelyn Keyes, who plays Sheila, a Typhoid Mary of smallpox. Sheila has made a very bad choice in boyfriends – a guy for whom she has taken one fall already and is now helping with a delivery of stolen jewelry. She’s on the run from the cops until she can deliver the loot – and bad boyfriend (Charles Korvin) wants that loot right away, too. And she’s not feeling well…
Sheila has smallpox, so she’s zipping furtively around NYC infecting people. So the Public Health Department is also tracking her down as Patent Zero. The Killer that Stalked New York is about these two overlaid ticking bombs – the jewelry caper and the smallpox – all while Sheila is getting sicker and sicker. Fortunately, a dreamy Public Health doc (William Bishop) is drawn to save her.
Evelyn Keyes is the best thing about the movie, although she has to play a pretty overwrought role. And she is made up to look worse and worse in the course of the plot, getting really sweaty and finally sporting pustules.
Visit my posts on Panic in the Streets and The Killer that Stalked New York for more discussion, images and a trailer. The Killer That Stalked New York has played on Turner Classic Movies. It’s not currently available to stream, but the DVD is available to purchase. The better movie, Panic in the Streets, plays frequently on Turner Classic Movies and can be streamed from iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
