Knock on Any Door
| Knock on Any Door | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Nicholas Ray |
| Produced by | Robert Lord |
| Screenplay by |
John Monks Jr. Daniel Taradash |
| Based on |
Knock on Any Door (1947 novel) by Willard Motley |
| Starring |
Humphrey Bogart John Derek |
| Music by | George Antheil |
| Cinematography | Burnett Guffey |
| Edited by | Viola Lawrence |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Knock on Any Door is a 1949 American court-room trial film noir directed by Nicholas Ray and starring Humphrey Bogart. The picture gave actor John Derek a break in developing his film career and was based on the 1947 novel of the same name by Willard Motley.
Against the wishes of his law partners, lawyer Andrew Morton (Humphrey Bogart) takes the case of Nick Romano (John Derek), a troubled young man from the slums, partly because he himself came from the same slums, and partly because he feels guilty for botching the criminal trial of Nick's father years earlier (he was innocent). Nick is on trial for viciously killing a policeman point-blank and faces execution if convicted (the event is shown in a dark opening scene, but the killer's face is not seen).
Morton's strategy in the courtroom is to argue that slums breed criminals and that the community is partly to blame for crimes committed by the people who are forced to live in such miserable conditions. Through flashbacks, Morton demonstrates that Romano is more a victim of society than a natural-born killer. Yet, Morton's strategy does not have the desired result on the jury thanks to the badgering of District Attorney Kernan (George Macready). Morton, however, does manage to arouse sympathy for the plight of those trapped by birth and circumstance in a dead-end existence.
Producer Mark Hellinger purchased the rights to Knock on Any Door (a novel by the African American novelist Willard Motley) and Humphrey Bogart and Marlon Brando were to star in the production. However, after Hellinger died in late 1947, Robert Lord and Bogart formed a corporation to produce the film: Santana Productions, named after Bogart's private sailing yacht.Jack L. Warner was reportedly furious at this, fearing that other stars would do the same and major studios would lose their power.
According to critic Hal Erickson, the often-repeated credo spoken by the character Nick Romano: "Live fast, die young, and have a good-looking corpse," would become the "clarion call for a generation of disenfranchised youth."
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Wikipedia