Noirvember 2017, Episode 13: Cry Vengeance (1954)

Cry Vengeance (1954) Mark Stevens
Olive Blu-ray (1:23)

San Francisco Detective Vic Barron (Mark Stevens) was so close to bringing down a gang connected to organized crime… In fact, he was too close: the mob bombed his car in an attempt to make him disappear. Barron survived with a disfigured face, but his wife and child were killed in the blast.

Now, after serving three years in prison, a set-up for a crime he didn’t commit, Barron follows a lead to Ketchikan, Alaska, out to find the man who bombed his family. Along the way, Barron encounters a psycho mob footman named Roxey (Skip Homeier) and maybe more problems than he can handle.

Although it’s been called “The Poor Man’s The Big Heat,” Cry Vengeance has a lot going for it including an interesting and unusual noir location, a good villain played by Homeier, and an intriguing ending. The plot may be standard revenge noir, but its generally done well (despite Stevens’s makeup undergoing various levels of disfigurement). Definitely worth picking up.

3.5/5

Next: Things you don’t want to hear from Charles McGraw: “Let me have him for a minute…”

Photos: Fine Art America, DVD Beaver