Gritty police procedural teams up Treasury Agent Scott Brady and Customs Officer Richard Rober against Yul Brynner’s Mr. Big narcotics smuggler in some tasty Manhattan locations (High & Low), neatly handled film noir style by director Laslo Benedek & adventurous lenser George E. Diskant. The standout elements are Brynner, still with hair on his head in his film debut (a riveting, exotic presence, wooing or disposing of ladies & associates as necessary) and those real locations, especially on the docks & seedier parts of town, many now gone. The rest is a good enough, if fairly standard cop meller. A bit tougher than usual, it’s helped by a restricted budget that reduces gloss in the semi-documentary style popularized over @ 20th/Fox by producer Louis De Rochemont.* Extra nice touch from composer Sol Kaplan who picks up the opening theme of Shostakovich’s First Piano Concerto (Brynner even puts a 78rpm side on the turntable) to use as a leitmotif whenever Brynner shows on the scene with evil intent. Very effective! So too this neat indie pic.
DOUBLE-BILL: *Compare with De Rochemont/Henry Hathaway’s THE HOUSE ON 92nd STREET/’45.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: Baby boomers will recognize Chet Huntley’s voice doing the over-generous narration.
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