SOuthside 1-1000

Pacy T-Man movie, one of only three directed by Boris Ingster, whose STRANGER ON THE THIRD FLOOR is held by many to be the film which kicked off the 'film noir' cycle. A narrative voiceover lends a pseudo-documentary air to the tale of a square-jawed treasury agent, John Riggs (Don DeFore), who is tasked with cracking a counterfeiting ring initiated by a dying master forger from inside his jail cell. Once on the trail, Riggs adopts a false identity in the hope of ingratiating himself with the crooks, and this brings him into contact with larcenously inclined hotel manageress Nora Craig (Andrea King). Although this is fairly standard stuff, with the rather annoying voiceover failing to ratchet up the tension as it did in Kubrick's THE KILLING, Russell Harlan's often moody location cinematography (see also GUN CRAZY & RIOT IN CELL BLOCK 11) and King's hardboiled femme, together with one or two nifty, if contrived, twists make this a worthwhile diversion for fans of noir obscura.

It's a noir pseudo-documentary counterfeiting crime drama set in 1950 in Washington, D. C. and Los Angeles, California. Secret Service agent John Riggs (Don Defore) tries to track a counterfeiting ring using high-quality plates engraved by Eugene Deane (Morris Ankrum), who is serving a prison term. One lead, Bill Evans (Barry Kelley), dies before Riggs can track Evans' boss. So he goes undercover as a principal in a large Boston bank robbery. He meets gang enforcer, Reggie (George Tobias), and an intriguing hotel manager, Nora Craig (Andrea King). A final climactic confrontation resolves the issue in favor of the Feds.

"Southside 1-1000" (one of the phone numbers called in the film) is a workmanlike story that's never convincing. Don DeFore doesn't do convincing noir. The film is hindered by a bizarre patriotic Korean War plug that morphs into a Feds-can-do-no-wrong introduction. George Tobias is a good thug, and Andrea King is OK as the femme fatale, but she has no chemistry with DeFore. Reviewer Dennis Schwartz said the film reminds him of the old "Dragnet" TV series, and the narration does have that feel.

The US Secret Service is always on the lookout for fake money. They follow it all the way to San Quentin where dying prisoner engraver Eugene Deane had created plates for gangsters on the outside.

The first half has the continuous narration explaining the investigation. I don't buy that an inmate created the plates inside his cell. I get the noir-ish intention of bringing in the penal system. It wants the dramatic heat, but I found it rather outlandish. Maybe it's ripped from a true story, but I highly doubt it. With that bad starting point, I'm watching the rest side-eyed. I never full got into it.

Don DeFore is a Secret Service agent whose investigation of a major counterfeiting ring that leads him to a commercial hotel in Los Angeles and its manager, Andrea King.

There are flashes of brilliance in the third and last movie directed by Boris Ingster, but they look to be matters of the professional he was working with, particularly the final sequence as Miss King flees from a wounded DeFore in a welter of rail tracks and bridges. After a downbeat ending, we get a jaunty little tune over the closing credits which is just weird. And Gerald Mohr's narration adds a sententious matte finish to the entire proceedings. DeFore is adequate in the role, Miss King is very good, as is George Tobias as a suspicious henchman. Ingster later went into television on the production side, and died in 1978 at the age of 74.

(1950) Southside 1-1000 CRIME DRAMA DOCU DRAMA/ SUSPENSE

There's a boring 15 minute intro spoke by the narrator before it centers on a known counterfeiter named Deane (Morris Ankrum) to which it shows how it appears him reading his bible in his jail cell, But upon looking closely it appears he is just putting the final touches on metal plates hidden in the cut out inside his bible before he passes it on to an oblivious unsuspecting pastor who has an appointment to see a supposedly sick patient. When more counterfeit money are beginning to surface, the head of the treasury department, Hughes (G. Pat Collins) then appoints secret service agent, John Riggs (Don DeFore) to be in charge of the case. Because Riggs are aware about Deano's criminal history, he then decides to check his jail cell, presuming that is where the metal counterfeit plates had originally originated from before he goes and sees him. He then tells him he found the tools he may have used to make the metal plates as well as the bible he carved to make them in. But because Deano does not have much time to live, he refuses the deal that was offered to him to tell Riggs the names who own the plates now. The set up is quite long but there is also a weasel who hangs around in sports stadiums and by luck he happens to be carrying fake money on him. He cooperates and it then leads him to a cigar store only to tail an overweight man, Bill Evans (Barry Kelley). And just as he was about to board onto a plane, Riggs and authorities then detain him, and charged him for transporting counterfeit money. He of course, gets eventually gets knocked out for getting himself caught, leading the star Riggs to go undercover under the name, Nick Starnes. After Evan's wife let him go through his things, and found tailor made suits that is linked to a particular hotel. It is there he meets, and gets accustomed to a young lady who works at the hotel of several duties, her name is Nora Craig (Andrea King).

The tone is similar to other docu drama films with the narrator describing to the viewers what happened such as "The FBI Story" and "Down Three Dark Streets" to which they show some of the procedure and techniques this is one of those films except that it was predictable at times and felt long despite the short run time but it could be the result of me watching many films.