Black Tuesday (1954)
7/10
Runing on empty - unknown film noir gem
9 August 2020
Solid film noir by Hugo Fregonese about two inmates running away from the death row the day before their execution. The film's progressively oppresive atmosphere is nicely portrayed by Fregonese in a cinema verité style. Characters are well written and played -supporting cast is excellent as well- with few concessions to sentimentalism -causing censor cuts at some points. Edward G. Robinson brilliantly plays vicious gangster Vincent Canelly while Peter Graves plays nicely his escape partner Peter Manning. Always providing their films with an interesting approach and usually solid scripts, Fregonese directed several prison movies like My six convicts or Apenas un delincuente capturing prisoners' point of view. Unusually dark for its time, the film suffered some censor's cuts in several countries so keep this in mind if you are watching it from a tv pass. Worth watching noir filmed in a realistic and sometimes brutal -for its time -style. It clearly deserves a restoration.
7 out of 7 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed