After the shocking and emotive 'They Live by Night' (1948), Farley Granger and Cathy O'Donnell were paired again for another adventure together. Cathy O'Donnell repeats her heart-wrenching performance of a good girl who loves a guy in serious trouble, with her inner radiance once again practically burning holes in the celluloid. Farley Granger is more than merely confused and panicky in this film, his character goes too far over the edge into being stupid, which loses a lot of our sympathy for his plight. That was a script weakness. Anthony Mann is at full strength here as director, and the film is powerful and disturbing. Jean Hagen delivers an excellent supporting performance. The plot involves a young man desperate for a modest amount of money who steals what he thinks is $200 but it turns out it is a $30,000 blackmail payoff. You can imagine the rest. 'I want my money!' as the usual gangster's refrain, with knives and guns to back up the demand. Poor old Farley goes from one extreme peril to another, all unwitting and largely uncomprehending. His innocent young face is ravaged with panic as he sweats from one thug to another, and is caught up in murder, corruption, and intrigues which proliferate like rabbits. Neither Farley nor the audience ever knew what hit them. The film was slightly too formula, and should have had a more sophisticated script and would then have been a real classic, as it had all the other ingredients. It is eminently watchable, and frantic, and guaranteed to give you an ulcer for the duration just imagining yourself caught up in any of that nightmare. Well done all around, but it falls short by being an overly contrived concept. It lacks the onrush of the unexpected but horror of the inevitable of the loving pair's previous effort. It could so easily have surpassed it. However, it is still a very superior noir film.
Review of Side Street
