Port of New York
Port of New York
A gangster / film noir sponsored by the United States Treasury Board. Directed by Laslo Benedek. Starring Scott Brady, Richard Rober, KT Stevens and Yul Brynner, who once upon a time DID have hair, as this film illustrates. The story is essentially a drug deal gone awry, with various branches of the US Treasury Board cracking the case. And if you couldn't have guessed, yes, Yul Brynner is the accent-afflicted, receeding shock-black haired villian. NOTE: there are three reels to this film, labelled A, B & C.
Port of New York
Opening montage of NYC ports: good shots of steamships, tugboats, the Statue of Liberty, the Manhattan skyline, etc. Dissolve to a MS (tight LS?) of the Customs Agents Headquarters as agents, in MS and CU, show the various ways folks smuggle contraband (in the heel of a shoe, in the lining of a suitcase and so on)-- very good introduction, decent montage, features a VO throughout. Cut to nighttime as a man on a commercial steamship throws a life raft overboard, then leaps after it. He rows into the night, gets picks up by a small motorboat, gets stabbed to death by the ruffians aboard and then gets tossed over unceremoniously. Cut back to daytime and a MS of passengers getting off aforementioned steamship, walking along a gangplank. MS's of a woman going through a customs check; gets approved. MS of Yul, in a NY apartment with the woman from the last shot, pulling out a cigarette; as he's about to light it he slaps the woman's face; she exits and he stares coldly at her, crumbling the cigarette. 370' to 740'.......... tight LS and MS's of customs agents inspecting a wood box, checking cleared and actual weights, opening the box to find it full of sand. Cut to a long montage: MS of an agent on a phone, calling in the alarm, the cops arriving, the investigators getting assigned, the Coast Guard being called in (nice MS of a Coast Guard officer standing by th rail of a moving boat, the Manhattan skyline in BG and so on. Onward to the Bureau of Narcotics. MS of an agent being assigned to the case; ends with a great MS of two agents talking by an open window as the camera dollys to and past them, concentrating on the nice urban view. Cut to a high angle tight LS of the Manhattan skyline, then to a long, great, dissolving montage of the dragnet being throw out: inspectors working the case in the field and at the office, witnesses being questioned, cops doing the questioning, newspaper headlines, boats sailing the Hudson in search of the body, a MS of the dead body floating by searchers and low and high angle tight LS's of NYC buildings, mostly federal. Good headon MS of the accessory to the crime, the woman from before, walking gingerly along a busy daytime street, a heavy look of concern on her face. Nice shot of the classic agents talking on a payphone; CU of the woman on the other end. Tight LS of 1940's taxis filling the streets; one stops at an apartment-hotel, letting off one of the agents. MS of the agent questioning the building's super, an old portly man with a heavy Irish accent who's trying to vacuum the lobby. Meanwhile, cut to a MS of Yul wrapping a neckerchief around the woman's neck in front of a make up mirror, choking her out. MS of two agents, pan left, as they enter Penn Station, walking down flight of stairs. Cut to a high angle tight LS of busy platform inside Penn Station as the two agents stroll through