Black Hand

Black Hand (1950)

Sandwiched between his many superb musicals, this straight up drama has Gene Kelly playing an Italian returning home to find out who murdered his father years before. It's very well made—crisp writing and editing, excellent acting, and a kind of mise-en-scene that seems about right for bustling New York.

The pressure Italian mobsters press onto their own neighborhood Italian store owners and merchants is terrible and maddening, of course, and here we are made to feel it as directly as a movie can manage. Besides Kelly, two other actors are just superlative—J. Carol Naish, playing the police detective who eventually goes to Italy to find evidence, and the store owner (whose name I can't find in a hurry). Oddly, both Naish and Kelly are Irish-Americans playing Italians in early 20th Century New York.

The plot is a bit forced, as this kind of large social-issue movie usually ends up doing. The mob (known as the Black Hand) is making life miserable for average folk, and whenever one resists, they end up dying or almost. But somebody has to do something about this, so between the cops (some Italian, some not) and the heroics of one individual (played by Kelly), the thugs are brought down one little notch.

But if you go along with inevitable victory of the little guy over the forces of evil, you'll see a really finely made drama with terrific acting (Kelly is no slouch and Naish is brilliant) and excellent filming (almost inevitable in lat 1940s American cinema). There are lots of other characters, a few chilling scenes, some dreamy idealism, and in all a look at the times with only a slight filter over the harsher reality that is, always, the truth.

Plot--As a youngster Johnny Columbo vows to crack the criminal organization in New York's Little Italy, the Black Hand, after they've murdered his father. As an adult he seeks to carry out his pledge among the teeming streets, where people are mostly too intimidated to help out. Eventually, he allies with the fearless Louis Lorelli. But will that be enough.

It's a well-produced crime drama from MGM. I suspect the film was approved under the general aegis of Dore Schary who was replacing Louis B. Mayer as studio head. Under Mayer the studio typically turned out sunny escapism that came to define Hollywood as the Dream Factory. But the sunny themes of Andy Hardy were out of synch with a traumatized post-war audience, so studio adjustments such as Schary's darker vision was needed. Black Hand typifies the noirish themes that came to dominate the period that Schary's former studio RKO specialized in.

Looks like actor Kelly was also hoping to expand his range into the new period. I had some difficulty viewing him as an Italian immigrant, but he manages the lingo smoothly enough even though I kept expecting a soft shoe at any moment. The movie itself creates some suspense even though director Thorpe films in impersonal style. Unfortunately, that minimizes the many dramatic highlights that more close-ups and edgier acting would have underscored. Nonetheless, the shabby settings and shadowy lighting impart an appropriate mood. Columbo's moral predicament at the end is a poignant one, a culmination of the shadowy mood.

Overall, the result fails to give enough bite to the drama implicit in the material. My guess is Schary should have brought some of RKO's crime specialists with him.

Although basically an Irishman with Irish parents, Gene Kelly succeeds very well in making a convincing Italian character. It is a great story in which Kelly gets plenty of opportunities to excel in his acrobatics (bur no dancing here!) as he generally insisted on doing his own stunts. Little Italy in New York, in which more Italians lived than in Rome around 1900, is very well recreated with excellent cinematography and photography and comes alive, in all its primitive conditions and circumstances but with the mob no less vicious and insidious than in later Godfather days; and the thriller created is as good a match as any to later New York gangster films. Teresa Celli is even more convincing as the Italian lady of the film, and all other characters are also absolutely right, especially J. Carrol Laish as the intrepid policeman ending up a martyr for not being too careful. The music by Alberto Colombo is also perfect, but I think the prize goes to Paul Vogel for the almost expressive photography.

After his father is murdered for standing up to the mob Johnny Columbo swears to avenge his death. Well entrenched in Little Italy the Mafia uses violence and intimidation to keep the community in its grip and Columbo finds it difficult at first to get assistance in breaking the code of silence that solidify's their grip. When he enlists the help of detective Louis Lorelli things begin to happen and the mob responds harshly.

Gene Kelly in an off type role as Johnny is a slight stretch (it begs for Richard Conti) but convincing enough. It is J. Carroll Naish as intrepid detective Lorelli though that runs away with the film. It's nice to see J. center stage and noble given his career as a venal and craven weakling in many of his films hanging on the edge of scenes, ready to pounce on someone's misfortune.

Workman like director Richard Thorpe more than once allows his scenes to drag in spots but cinematographer Paul Vogels excellent camera work fills the suspense lapses with excellently lit exteriors and some nice subtle tracking work. There are Lang like moments as well with Thorpe eschewing suspense music in favor of silence and ambient noise to heighten scenes but his poor pacing and moments of incredulity prevent the film from reaching full potential.

There is certainly more ugly truth to be found in the film Black Hand that deals with the same topic of the Mafia as the more sophisticated violently romantic Godfather films. Pale in comparison to the production values, vaunted cast and and directing styles of the saga it still delivers moments that rival.

I like this movie because it takes us back in time and we get to see how the start-up was for people who came to America and why. Everyone in this movie works hard, dreams, sacrifices and wants the best for their children, themselves and their neighbors, family and friends. However, the wolves move-in and instead of everyone enjoying the fruits of their labor, they now shift from living care free into a predator prey environment. The one trying to make a go is vulnerable and the ones trying to make a quick, dishonest buck go to work ala the black hand! Pay attention to the dress, streets, shops, sights and sounds and how there was so much opportunity if one wanted to work. Note how many people share a room and how rooms where above the stores back then. In the movie, one guy points out to another that speaking English and Italian is all the edge you need to make it rich in this country at that time. There is another similar film with Ernest Borgnine call Pay or Die that covers the same subject matter and is entertaining as well. Good movie to eat and have a tasty drink plus a snack. Gene Kelly who speaks a decent Italian in the film at least and J. Carol Naish too. Enjoy this Buono Cinema