CITY OF FEAR rare 1959 nuclear noir July 19th

[Dewey1960]

Another brazen heads-up is in order for the rarely shown 1959 Columbia nuclear noir CITY OF FEAR...airing on TCM next Thursday, July 19. This is one I've been trying to track down for some time and am very much looking forward to taping for posterity.

CITY OF FEAR was directed by Irving Lerner who, the year before directed MURDER BY CONTRACT (also Columbia). That film is an incredibly cool noir about a professional hit man, intensely played by Vince Edwards (who also stars in CITY OF FEAR). It's been oft-reported that Martin Scorsese patterned the character of Travis Bickle (TAXI DRIVER) after Edwards' character in MURDER BY CONTRACT. Edwards of course would a short time later become forever known as TV's "Ben Casey," a fact that belies his credibility as a raving psychotic in a handful of classic noir films; he also excelled as Marie Windsor's bad boyfriend in Kubrick's THE KILLERS (1956).

CITY OF FEAR has an irresistible premise: an escaped con (Edwards) makes off with what he believes to be a stash of pure heroin which in reality is a canister full of radioactive Cobalt 60--enough of it, in the wrong hands, to blow LA clean off the map. All reports indicate that Edwards, once under the fatal effects of radioactive poisoning, devours an awful lot of scenery. Lyle Talbot and John Archer are along for the ride as a pair of cops on the deadly chase. Jerry Goldsmith provides one of his earliest scores.

So...has anyone seen CITY OF FEAR? And if so, what have ye to say?

[Mr. Arkadin]

I just watched it. Not a bad film.

Does anybody have problems with some TCM films where a green horizontal line flashes on the screen for a second then dissappears? This has begun happening in some black and whites I record (never seen it on a color pic.)

It's not every film and it doesn't happen a lot--sometimes just once or twice in the film. Can anyone explain this and does anyone else have similar problems?

[Dewey1960]

Mr. Arkadin said: "I just watched it. Not a bad film."

Boy, I'll say. Very tight, very tough. Extremely well shot by Lucien Ballard (THE KILLING). Vince Edwards, in three 1950s films (THE KILLING, MURDER BY CONTRACT and CITY OF FEAR) established himself as a heavy to be reckoned with. His off-kilter performance really makes CITY OF FEAR work. I think he could have had a major career in films had he not been sidelined by the enormously popular BEN CASEY tv program.

BTW, I haven't noticed the peculiar problem you described on my playback.

[Mr. Arkadin]

Yes, I really enjoyed it. Sorry I was not more enthusiastic. I'm just trying to figure out where these problems are coming from in the recording. I live in an older house so it could be something with wiring (had those problems before). I thought it was a really cool film.