Cry of the City
| Cry of the City | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Robert Siodmak |
| Produced by | Sol C. Siegel |
| Screenplay by |
Richard Murphy Ben Hecht |
| Based on |
The Chair for Martin Rome 1947 novel by Henry Edward Helseth |
| Starring |
Victor Mature Richard Conte Fred Clark Shelley Winters |
| Music by | Alfred Newman |
| Cinematography | Lloyd Ahern |
| Edited by | Harmon Jones |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. |
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Release date
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Running time
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95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Cry of the City is a 1948 black-and-white film noir directed by Robert Siodmak based on the novel by Henry Edward Helseth, The Chair for Martin Rome. Veteran film noir-writer Ben Hecht worked on the film's script, but is not credited. The film was shot partly on location in New York City.
Martin Rome (Richard Conte), a hardened criminal, is recuperating in a hospital from a shootout that leaves a police officer dead. At the hospital, he is briefly visited by his fiancée, Teena Ricante (Debra Paget). A shady lawyer representing another crook, Niles (Berry Kroeger), claims that he participated in a jewel robbery with her in which a woman was killed. Rome is innocent of the jewel robbery, but the police suspect that he carried out the robbery in conjunction with Teena, and begin a search for her.
With the help of a trusty (Walter Baldwin), he escapes from the prison ward, afraid that the lawyer will try to frame Teena and himself. He is pursued by an old adversary, police lieutenant Candella (Victor Mature), who grew up in his neighborhood and knows his family. Rome, feverish from his bullet wounds, receives help from his brother Tony, who worships him, and an old girlfriend, Brenda (Shelley Winters). Meanwhile, Candella and his partner (Fred Clark), track him down through the streets of New York. He locates the female accomplice of the real jewel thief/murderer, a strongly built masseuse named Rose Givens (Hope Emerson). He tricks her and she is apprehended by the police. In the struggle she shoots at Rome, wounding Candella.
Candella, shot in the shoulder, flees the hospital in his obsessive pursuit of Rome, ultimately tracking him down and killing him. Just before that happens, Tony refuses his brother's request that he steal their parents' savings, in a final break with his brother's criminality. The film describes the odd relationship between these two men, their seeming bond as the pursuit ends in death for Rome.
Director Richard Siodmak was borrowed from Universal. Filming took place on location in New York originally under the title Law and Martin Rome.
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