This is a tight little thriller from a very young Stanley Kubrick. His second feature length picture is only 67 minutes and it moves along very briskly. The story, told in flash back concerns an aging boxer and and a dime a dance dance hall girl. The boxer is down on his luck but has the promise of a new life on a farm with his uncle. The two live in tiny claustrophobic apartments across the airshaft from each in some outer borough. The two meet and hit it off. Unfortunatly the dance hall girl happens to be a vicious hood’s girlfriend. They both want out of their situations and are going to try to run away to the uncle’s farm. Of course there are many obstacles in the way, mainly the vicious hood and his henchmen. The obstacles culminate in one of the best axe fights in a mannequinn factory ever filmed

The other interesting feature of this film is New York in 1955. There are shots at locations that just do not exist anymore, in particular the real Pennsylvania Station, which was torn down in 1964 in what has to be the biggest act of civil vandalism ever. Working with practically no budget and largely without on-location filming permits, Kubrick had to remain unnoticed while shooting in the nation’s busiest city, sometimes secretly shooting from a nearby vehicle. A pick up truck was used as dolly instead of a dolly.

One great story about this picture is in one scene the dance hall girl was supposed to walk across 42nd Street, but a truck driver repeatedly blocked the way with his vehicle. The driver agreed to clear the area only if the actress would later meet him for a drink. She agreed and the scene was shot, but to this day no one knows if the rendezvous actually took place.

 

This picture, the last to be directed by Kubrick with his own original script (not a previously published novel or other source) is not a masterpiece but it is very much worth the 67 minutes you will never get back.

Saturday November 10th at 10:00 AM on Turner Classic Movies.

 

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 8th, 2007 at 2:06 am and is filed under Film Noir, Thriller/Suspense, New York. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.