Crime Wave (1954)

[Steve-O]

Crime Wave (1954) 6/12/2005

Noir Of The Week 'CRIME WAVE' (1954) Dir. Andre de Toth *SPOILERS* Posted by David on 6/12/2005, 4:18 pm
A late night gas station knock-over goes South for a trio of escaped thugs when one is killed and an intervening cop is killed. The L.A.P.D. suspect the culprits will converge on - and hole up at - the home of Steve Lacey (Gene Nelson), an ex-con anxious to leave the life and that ilk far behind.
Gruff Detective Sims (Sterling Hayden) wants nothing more than to collar the crew - and Lacey - whom he suspects is a willing harborer. With his innocence doubted, Lacey and his loving wife Ellen (Phyllis Kirk) inform his Parole Officer and Sims that the wounded hood showed up and promptly died - but that's as far as his involvement goes. Soon after, the other two (Ted de Corsia, Charles Bronson) show up and demand Steve's assistance in a bank heist they've long been planning. When one of the fugitives murders an underworld physician who knows too much - and leaves Lacey's car at the scene - Sims sets out to nab them all. Following a meeting at the lair of an offbeat associate (Timothy Carey), the crew - including the reluctant but threatened Lacey - make their way to the bank, which they discover has been filled with tipped-off cops - and a bloody shoot-out ensues. Lacey high-tails it back to where Ellen is being held - and after freeing her - is freed himself by a newly convinced Sims.


A crackerjack nocturnal thriller elevated by strong acting and assured direction - 'Crime Wave' could've easily been just another routine potboiler in lesser hands. De Toth, who has proven himself capable in several genres (Kirk and Bronson were also in his 'House of Wax' the previous year) eschews rapid-fire editing and cheap thrills here - opting for a more cool, stately pace which oddly makes the flow of the narrative even more gripping. Much of the film is set in the wee small hours - and the night-for-night shooting benefits the film immeasurably.
The uniformly solid acting is yet another highlight of the film. Hayden is perhaps even stronger here than in his portrayal of 'The Asphalt Jungle's doomed crook - his surly, toothpick-chewing Detective an alternately intimidating and darkly funny presence. Nelson, who I confess I've never seen before or since, gives an exceptionally restrained and sensitive performance - creating an anti-hero who elicits deep empathy despite limited screen time and dialogue. His Lacey, not unlike Jeff in 'Out Of The Past', is forced to re-visit his former life which - in an unsettling early scene of intimacy invaded, comes in the form of a jarring late-night phone call - in his and Ellen's bedroom.
Kirk, De Corsia, and a thirty-something Charles Bronson all bring their fine work to the table - as does the great Timothy Carey who shines (kinda like a rusty switchblade) in a smallish role. He increases, late in the proceedings, the already considerable tension exponentially - with a twinkle from his crazy eyes. The uniquely chilling Carey makes Christopher Walken look like Mr. Rogers.
Thanks for reading -
David

[David]

Crime Wave - Director André de Toth

*SPOILERS*

A late night gas station knock-over goes South for a trio of escaped thugs when one is killed and an intervening cop is killed. The L.A.P.D. suspect the culprits will converge on - and hole up at - the home of Steve Lacey (Gene Nelson), an ex-con anxious to leave the life and that ilk far behind.
Gruff Detective Sims (Sterling Hayden) wants nothing more than to collar the crew - and Lacey - whom he suspects is a willing harborer. With his innocence doubted, Lacey and his loving wife Ellen (Phyllis Kirk) inform his Parole Officer and Sims that the wounded hood showed up and promptly died - but that's as far as his involvement goes.

Spoiler:

Soon after, the other two (Ted de Corsia, Charles Bronson) show up and demand Steve's assistance in a bank heist they've long been planning. When one of the fugitives murders an underworld physician who knows too much - and leaves Lacey's car at the scene - Sims sets out to nab them all. Following a meeting at the lair of an offbeat associate (Timothy Carey), the crew - including the reluctant but threatened Lacey - make their way to the bank, which they discover has been filled with tipped-off cops - and a bloody shoot-out ensues. Lacey high-tails it back to where Ellen is being held - and after freeing her - is freed himself by a newly convinced Sims.

A crackerjack nocturnal thriller elevated by strong acting and assured direction - 'Crime Wave' could've easily been just another routine potboiler in lesser hands. De Toth, who has proven himself capable in several genres (Kirk and Bronson were also in his 'House of Wax' the previous year) eschews rapid-fire editing and cheap thrills here - opting for a more cool, stately pace which oddly makes the flow of the narrative even more gripping. Much of the film is set in the wee small hours - and the night-for-night shooting benefits the film immeasurably.

The uniformly solid acting is yet another highlight of the film. Hayden is perhaps even stronger here than in his portrayal of 'The Asphalt Jungle's doomed crook - his surly, toothpick-chewing Detective an alternately intimidating and darkly funny presence. Nelson, who I confess I've never seen before or since, gives an exceptionally restrained and sensitive performance - creating an anti-hero who elicits deep empathy despite limited screen time and dialogue. His Lacey, not unlike Jeff in 'Out of the Past', is forced to re-visit his former life which - in an unsettling early scene of intimacy invaded, comes in the form of a jarring late-night phone call - in his and Ellen's bedroom.

Kirk, De Corsia, and a thirty-something Charles Bronson all bring their fine work to the table - as does the great Timothy Carey who shines (kinda like a rusty switchblade) in a smallish role. He increases, late in the proceedings, the already considerable tension exponentially - with a twinkle from his crazy eyes. The uniquely chilling Carey makes Christopher Walken look like Mr. Rogers.

[MartinTeller]

(review from June 5, 2008)

The story is a noir staple (ex-con trying to go straight gets pulled back into crime) and de Toth doesn't really pack any surprises here, but it's fun to watch. I don't think I've ever come across a noir that I really hated. Interesting to see Tim Carey (in a very small but memorable role) and Sterling Hayden in a film noir together two years before The Killing. Also a young Charles Bronson. Rating: 7


(review from April 24, 2010)

Pretty routine stuff, but really gritty with some nice idiosyncratic touches (Timothy Carey's extremely odd performance especially). Sterling Hayden always casts an intimidating shadow, but here he's just a powerhouse. Although it's not one of my favorite noirs by a longshot, its quick pace makes it fun. Rating: 7

[The Professor]

Noir 101. The Essentials. Crime Wave.

Really?

If this little policier from Warner Bros. (filmed in 1952, released in 1954) isn’t part of your vocabulary then it needs to be; and considering it was finally released on DVD a few years ago, there’s no excuse not to see it. Crime Wave doesn’t stand out from a narrative point of view (despite a bucket of writers); the plot is routine, like a million other second features cranked out during the fifties. Although the story and characters are heavily steeped in noir tropes, it’s André De Toth’s sharp direction that sets it apart from other low budget crime pictures and demands that it be seen by any enthusiast. It can be argued that no other film noir is as influential as it is unknown.

The story is old hat: Ex-con tries to go straight. His old crew breaks out of the Q and comes knocking. When he refuses to help, they hold his fresh new wife in order to force him to take part in one last caper. All the while, the cops are along for the ride, except they don’t believe for a second that our boy is on the up and up.

The cast here is special, and although Sterling Hayden isn’t (necessarily) the protagonist, he dominates the film. This is the sort of role the movie gods had in mind when they placed Hayden in front of a camera: LAPD Detective Lieutenant Sims, bigger and tougher than any hood in the mug book. For my money this is the role of Hayden’s career — not the meatiest or the most well known, but the one in which he leaves the impression of having been the part, rather than merely having played it. (Put it another way: during the DVD commentary, author James Ellroy asserts that Hayden in Crime Wave simply is Bud White.) There are those that prefer him in The Asphalt Jungle or The Killing, but Hayden has a distinct vibe as a cop that isn’t there when he’s playing a crook: you can cross to the other side of the street and dodge a hoodlum (and it isn’t like you won’t see Hayden coming from a mile away) but you can’t avoid the police. With the force of law behind him, the prospect of cop Hayden looking for you is scary as hell.

At a beefy six-and-a-half feet tall, Hayden towers over everyone else in the film. André De Toth and cameraman Burt Glennon keep the camera low, catching the big fellow from underneath but looking down on all of the other actors, as if from Hayden’s point of view. He has to slouch, unkempt, a toothpick in his mouth, scruffy hat, tie perpetually twisted backwards — almost too big to be allowed. The film has numerous stellar sequences, but for Hayden one in particular stands out; it begins at around the eleven-minute mark and finds the cop in his homicide division office, interviewing an eyewitness about the Quentin breakout suspects. The scene opens with him at his desk, then it follows him around the bureau, moving shark-like among a half-dozen routine interviews. Ostensibly the purpose is pure semi-documentary storytelling, providing audiences with an up-close look into the inner workings of the LAPD: A middle-aged broad is rambling on about how she and her guy (replete with bandaged head) don’t really fight — she didn’t mean to conk him, they were just kidding around. At another table, a hang dog B-girl dripping with mascara and dime store jewelry sobs about some chucklehead boyfriend from her past, while at yet another a career stool-pigeon chastises a junior cop about bracing him in front of his neighbors. What makes the whole thing work is the extraordinary authenticity: pay attention to what is going on in the frame away from subject, almost as if the extras forgot for a moment the cameras were rolling. And this ain’t no soundstage — most of the scenes in Crime Wave, interiors and exteriors alike, are filmed in real Los Angeles locations. And if Hayden wasn’t so utterly believable as a 1952 LAPD homicide detective, none of it would work — he’s the glue that holds the entire movie together. If part of the allure of these old films is seeing things as they actually were way back when, this is a scene (and a film) that will keep you in goose bumps.

Then there’s Gene Nelson, of nimble feet and Oklahoma! fame, who plays Steve Lacey, ex-con. Nelson rightly underplays his part. His performance doesn’t offer much beyond matinee good looks and rolled up shirtsleeves. Like I said, this is Hayden’s movie, and Nelson stays out of his way. Whether it was his idea or De Toth’s, Steve Lacey is Lieutenant Sims perfect foil. From a noir perspective, Lacey is a protagonist in the classic mold: trying to make good after doing some hard time: employed, married, permanent address. Crane Wilbur’s story puts him in the classic bind: when his old cellmates come looking for help, he knows that helping them puts everything he’s worked for at risk, yet failing to do so is even more dangerous. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, and you can't outrun the mistakes of your past: the rock and the hard place of classic film noir, with only fate to decide whether or not a man comes out clean on the other side.

The wife is model-turned-actress Phyllis Kirk. Kirk did most of her work on television, but if you remember her at all it’s probably as the damsel in distress in De Toth’s most famous picture: House of Wax. Kirk and Nelson are well matched — and the mature depiction of their relationship is surprising for a film noir, and rather progressive when we consider typical gender depictions in similar crime films. Ellen Lacey wears the pants in the family; her assertiveness perfectly balances her husband’s diffidence — yet she’s neither a nag nor a shrew. Steve Lacey’s time behind bars has wrecked his ability to function outside the walls. He needs this strong woman to prop him up and constantly assure him that he has a future. That he had been, of all things, a fighter pilot during the war especially heightens the unusual nature of their relationship. Gone is the recklessness and bravado typically found in screen characterizations of such men, while the wife is equally surprising — a strong, modern woman who is neither a femme fatale nor perky a June Allyson. The film gives us an ideally matched couple, each offering what the other needs.

The crooks. Ted de Corsia: Eddie Muller says he looks like he was born in a boxing gym. James Ellroy: he “oozes Pomade.” Iconic in The Naked City, de Corsia shines reliably here as the brains behind the breakout. Crime Wave’s theatrical audience was familiar with him in heavy roles dating all the way back to The Lady from Shanghai. De Corsia’s screen persona was as hard-boiled as they come —*like an old-school Raymond Burr. His young partner is Charles Buchinsky, who also worked for De Toth in House of Wax. Of course Charles Bronson would go on to be one of the icons of seventies crime films, and one of the biggest movie stars in the world, but it’s always jarring to see him this young. His face is somewhat lined, but nowhere near as weather-beaten as it would become. Crime Wave offered the young actor one of his best early roles: he actually gets to act a little, and even has a few moments where his physicality is on display. The juxtaposition of a studio era character actor as traditional as de Corsia with someone as contemporary as Bronson gives the pair an unusual chemistry. Then there’s Tim Carey, the wild man of the American movie scene. There’s not enough room in any film review to dig into the strange case of Tim Carey, though on the strength of his appearance alone this one is worth the price of admission. His few brief moments of screen time are so bizarre — whether he’s at the center of the shot or mugging from the corner of the frame — that Crime Wave would be notable if for no other reason.

Enough about the cast, as good as they are, there are more worthwhile reasons to watch this, especially if you appreciate how a film looks, even more if you can feel a film. Usually when a noir essayist digs on cinematography, he’ll discuss the lighting and composition of individual shots — I’m not going to do that. From top to bottom, Crime Wave is a beautifully and thoughtfully staged movie, yet it’s not a one-trick-pony when it comes to visual style (check out Witness to Murder). Instead, it’s a movie that employs a variety of techniques depending on what individual scenes call for. The sunlit exteriors are pure documentary naturalism: showing LA locales (Burbank, Glendale, downtown) in a straightforward “this is the city” fashion. It’s difficult to follow the movie during these scenes; one’s inclination is to instead focus on signs and landmarks, trying to get a feel for the way the streets, the people, and the cars looked during those spectacular post-war years. At night, Glennon goes for drama, placing klieg lights in off kilter spots to create a chiaroscuro effect that seems as contrived as the day shots seem real; yet somehow it works, and the transitions barely register.

However the scenes are staged, the greatest thing about Crime Wave is where they are filmed: on location all the way through — and not just the exteriors. De Toth somehow swung access to city hall; the homicide bureau scenes are the real deal. Crime Wave is a superlative example of the way in which a low budget feature could be extraordinary: without money to build sets or dictate production values, De Toth was forced to find locations for the film, and it’s clear after just a single viewing that he had a peculiar talent for doing so: it’s is one the most attractive, even exhilarating, film noirs ever made. Pause on almost any frame and you’ll find something to linger on. De Toth successfully captured all of the content tropes and moviemaking techniques that had become germane to film noir in this tiny little film, and he did it with only half of his promised budget, and in a shoot of only thirteen days. The location work of The Naked City, the backseat point of view from Gun Crazy, the tones of John Alton, the jittery handheld cameras, semi-professional actors, and the quagmire of the ceaseless urban landscape. This a mean, unglamorous movie — populated with Dudley Smith cops ready to shoot a suspect in the back, hard-boiled killers, damaged goods, floozies, stool pigeons, strongarms, and professional losers. The good, the bad — even the insane — all trying to claw their way through a world that no longer gives a damn. It’s a cheap, but delicious buffet of everything noir buffs hunger for — and the final few frames make for one hell of a dessert. It should be on many of those ubiquitous top-ten lists, but the guy beside you probably still hasn’t seen it.

Crime Wave (1954, filmed 1952)
Directed by André De Toth
Screenplay by Crane Wilbur
Adaptation by Bernard Gordon and Richard Wormser
Original Story by John and Ward Hawkins
Produced by Brian Foy
Cinematography by Burt Glennon
Art Direction by Stanley Fleischer
Starring Sterling Hayden, Gene Nelson, and Phyllis Kirk
Released by Warner Bros.
Running time: 74 minutes

[cigar joe]

A short review by me a while back.

Crime Wave (1954) Holy sh*t! One of the best Noir's yet by Director: André De Toth with a stellar cast, Sterling Hayden
Gene Nelson, Phyllis Kirk, Ted de Corsia, Charles Bronson, Jay Novello, Nedrick Young, James Bell, Timothy Carey, and Dub Taylor , with outstandingly excellent location cinematography in LA.

Another ex con slub, Gene Nelson, is caught in the middle between Ted de Corsia's smarmy cigarette holder smoking gang leader and Sterling Hayden's tough homicide cop. 10/10

[noirton mcgraw]

well said professor! i can't add anything more except, i LOVE this movie, i got it a couple of years ago and loved it! i'm a BIG ted de corsia fan, he was born for this movie and part. these are the type of little know noirs that i love and look for, the perfect cast of characters,scenes,script(ofcourse b&w)... it don't get no better

[Steve-O]

Sterling Hayden\'s voice over on the trailer is worth the price of the DVD. Professor, you\'re not alone thinking Crime Wave is a top-shelf noir.

[noirguru]

I've always felt that Crime Wave was a very underrated noir! Maybe because it's only 74 mins. long, although Detour was only 69 mins! Anyway what I don't understand is why did it take Warners two years before they released it! If anyone knows why, let us know!

[fosterg]

Excellent job Professor.
There is one thing in "Crime Wave" that has always intrigued me. There is a scene where the phone rings in the Nelson/Kirk apartment and we see two hands reach for the phone. His on the bottom, hers on the top. It's pretty obvious what they are doing. Might this be one of the first examples of a married couple in the same bed in a movie from that era?

fosterg

[Steve-O]

The Lady Vanishes is the first movie to show a couple sharing the same bed... but I'm not sure about movies from that era (1940s and 50s)

[NOTW comment bot: comments from Noiroftheweek.com]

Great post for a film well worth celebrating - I finally caught up with this film when released on DVD and it is terrifically shot with great use of locations and very mobile and flexible camerawork. Plays like Joseph h. Lewis but with a little shot of something extra! I even managed to listen to the the audio commentary despite the bizarre 'performance' by James Ellroy to listen to the comments by the wonderful Eddie Muller

More...