I remember seeing "Hell on Frisco Bay" at a matinée in the mid 1950's. At the time, I thought it was dead boring.
I guess there was no way an action-orientated 10-year old was going to appreciate scenes of people standing around chatting in fairly ordinary looking rooms, and even at that age I could tell that the fight at the end used a lot of rear projection. Although I can now appreciate other things about the film, back then I felt it could have been called "Mild Disturbance on Frisco Bay".
Alan Ladd gave a typical low-key performance as Steve Rollins, a cop sentenced for murder who is paroled from prison looking to clear his name and seek revenge on the man responsible for the crime. But he is embittered and suspects his wife, Marcia (Joanne Dru), of unfaithfulness.
Alan Ladd was an actor we knew well in those days. He was a little guy who carried himself with the confidence of a big guy, and his stillness actually dominated the screen. His movies, which included plenty of westerns, were the sort that usually had us lining up on Saturday afternoons. Along with George Montgomery and Audie Murphy, my peer group knew him better than Marlon Brando – "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "The Fugitive Kind" would have had that audience rolling Jaffa balls down the isles in no time at all.
Edward G Robinson plays Victor Amato the mafia-like controller of the San Francisco waterfront – he's nasty to friend and foe alike. He's a different kind of godfather who lives quite modestly, but it's all about power for him.
Joanne Dru was a gorgeous-looking actress. Apparently she had a stormy private life that belied the stoic, long suffering character she plays in this movie. I was sorry to read that she had such ill health towards the end of her life – lymphedema for God's sake – getting old sucks.
"Hell on Frisco Bay" had good location work around San Francisco for the exteriors and some of the dreariest studio sets for the interiors where the camera work was of the set it up and stand in front of it variety.
The film doesn't really hold up against the avalanche of good crime movies and television series made over the intervening decades, but the stars are unique, and I must admit, I still have a soft spot for Alan Ladd's movies.
I guess there was no way an action-orientated 10-year old was going to appreciate scenes of people standing around chatting in fairly ordinary looking rooms, and even at that age I could tell that the fight at the end used a lot of rear projection. Although I can now appreciate other things about the film, back then I felt it could have been called "Mild Disturbance on Frisco Bay".
Alan Ladd gave a typical low-key performance as Steve Rollins, a cop sentenced for murder who is paroled from prison looking to clear his name and seek revenge on the man responsible for the crime. But he is embittered and suspects his wife, Marcia (Joanne Dru), of unfaithfulness.
Alan Ladd was an actor we knew well in those days. He was a little guy who carried himself with the confidence of a big guy, and his stillness actually dominated the screen. His movies, which included plenty of westerns, were the sort that usually had us lining up on Saturday afternoons. Along with George Montgomery and Audie Murphy, my peer group knew him better than Marlon Brando – "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "The Fugitive Kind" would have had that audience rolling Jaffa balls down the isles in no time at all.
Edward G Robinson plays Victor Amato the mafia-like controller of the San Francisco waterfront – he's nasty to friend and foe alike. He's a different kind of godfather who lives quite modestly, but it's all about power for him.
Joanne Dru was a gorgeous-looking actress. Apparently she had a stormy private life that belied the stoic, long suffering character she plays in this movie. I was sorry to read that she had such ill health towards the end of her life – lymphedema for God's sake – getting old sucks.
"Hell on Frisco Bay" had good location work around San Francisco for the exteriors and some of the dreariest studio sets for the interiors where the camera work was of the set it up and stand in front of it variety.
The film doesn't really hold up against the avalanche of good crime movies and television series made over the intervening decades, but the stars are unique, and I must admit, I still have a soft spot for Alan Ladd's movies.