City of Fear (1959)

(On Cable TV, November 2022) Great premise, merely adequate movie—but such an epitaph for director Irving Lerner’s City of Fear may not be much of a criticism considering that it was patched together from low-budget production means and the intent to make a quick buck. That’s it’s still getting airtime (and privileged airtime at that, being TCM’s Noir Alley pick of the week) sixty-more years later probably exceeds the expectations of anyone involved in its production. This late-period film noir, on the other hand, does have a really good premise: A convict returns to Los Angeles after breaking out of prison, having stolen a canister of what he thinks is heroin but is, in reality, a dangerously radioactive isotope with the potential to make much of the city uninhabitable. As he suffers the effects of radiation exposure, the police grapple with the problem of finding him and taking away the canister before it’s opened and contaminates the area. The inclusion of a weapon of mass destruction into a noir framework is not unique but still delightful, and brings the film closer to a unique noir/technothriller blend. On the other hand, the idea of a doomed hero making things worse for everyone else and being shot like a dog in the middle of the street? Now that’s a classic noir attitude. Executed with bargain-basement production means, City of Fear nonetheless features a few good exterior shots of late-1950s Los Angeles, and arguably presents a more suspenseful result than many of its better-financed contemporaries. Quite a nice find for noir connoisseurs even despite a few execution issues.