Film Noir -- The Dark Cinema

The Killer That Stalked New York (1950, Earl McEvoy) **
• Excellent and little seen film noir involving a woman (B-movie Queen Evelyn Keyes) trying to smuggle diamonds in from Cuba has been infected with small pox (“a thousand ugly sores that break through and a fever that burns you up!”). And acting as a cotangent she is infecting everyone she comes in contact with – hence the “killer stalking New York” – the mortality rate “1 out of 3 die and if you live you look like this!” This is a dark ride to be sure. A similar plot was the subject of an early Elia Kazan film Panic In the Streets (one can’t help thinking this was its inspiration). Soon to be recognizable names are featured: Lola Albright, Jim Backus and Dorothy Malone. Plus “A” list “B-Movie” stars like Whit Bissell, Connie Gilchrist, Barry Kelley, Richard Egan, Art Smith and William Bishop.