Black Tuesday – Eureka

Director: Hugo Fregonese
Screenplay: Sydney Boehm
Starring: Edward G. Robinson, Jean Parker, Peter Graves, Milburn Stone, Warren Stevens, Sylvia Findley, Jack Kelly
Country: USA
Running Time: 80 min
Year: 1954
BBFC Certificate: 12

Black Tuesday is a tough crime movie/film noir that proved too controversial for many back in 1954, when it was released. It was even banned in the UK and in some American states. It did get re-released a few months later after around 10 minutes of cuts, at least in the UK, but this dulled the film’s edge and, as such, it gained little attention and took a while to be rediscovered. In fact, it was never seen on British TV until this year (thanks to Talking Pictures TV).

More recent retrospectives of the film’s equally underrated director, Hugo Fregonese, have caused Black Tuesday to be re-evaluated though. Now, Eureka are aiding this ‘rebirth’ of the film by releasing it on Blu-ray under their illustrious Masters of Cinema banner.

Being a lover of all things noir, I got hold of a copy and my thoughts follow.

Black Tuesday opens on death row, where Vincent “King” Canelli (Edward G. Robinson), a notorious gangster, is due to be executed on the titular weekday in a “double header” with Peter Manning (Peter Graves), a cop-killer who refuses to tell anyone where he’s hidden his $200,000 stash.

Canelli, however, aided by his girlfriend Hatti (Jean Parker), has set the wheels in motion to break out of the prison. Through a clever plot involving a fake journalist and a gun planted by a prison guard whose daughter has been kidnapped by Canelli’s goons, the mobster gets out and takes Manning and several hostages with him.

Manning gets shot on the way out of the prison but Canelli does everything in his power (or that of the doctor he’s taken hostage) to keep him alive. Canelli is after Manning’s money, of course, and everything seems to be working in the criminal’s favour until the law starts to close in. As a siege begins, Canelli will put anyone in the firing line to save his skin.

Though perhaps its narrative leans more towards the crime movie, Black Tuesday is so hard-edged, bleak and nihilistic that it feels like one of the blackest of film noirs. And it’s damned good, no matter how you classify it.

Right from the opening scene, you know you’re in for something special. It sees the inmates pacing their cells like animals, as a black prisoner beats a rhythm on a stool whilst singing the bluesy theme song. This moody atmosphere is shattered by one of the inmates screaming “Shut up, will ya!” leading to the title splashing on the screen.

This stylish, tense, violent quality never lets up either. The film is tautly constructed without an ounce of fluff. This energy keeps the bleak nature of the film from taking over. There’s one plot hole regarding the convenience of a new reporter being sent to cover the execution but it can easily be forgiven for the otherwise ingenious breakout scene.

Aiding the film’s intoxicating pull is its cinematography by the great Stanley Cortez (Night of the Hunter, The Magnificent Ambersons). He used a new film stock called Tri-x, which hadn’t previously been used to shoot a feature film. It was more sensitive than the standard stock used at the time and led to extremely high-contrast images. This gives the film an inky black look that adds to the oppressive atmosphere. Cortez also fills each frame with diagonal lines, trapping the characters between them, making the minimal settings feel all the more claustrophobic.

The film was made whilst Robinson was effectively greylisted in Hollywood due to accusations of being a former member of the Communist party. It sees him return to the vicious gangster persona he was famous for in the 30s and 40s in films such as Little Caesar. Robinson makes the most of the role, crafting a character you can’t keep your eyes off, despite being shockingly evil. We do get a small spark of humanity from Canelli, in his love of Hatti, but this doesn’t soften him up in any shape or form.

Every character in the film could be seen as callous in some way, in fact. Even the seemingly sanctimonious Ellen Norris, the kidnapped daughter of a prison guard, is shown to have an acidic disdain for the criminals. This may be justified, due to her situation, but she’s certainly not a warm-hearted character. All the hostages, in fact, show moments of coldness or selfishness, largely in service of the film’s theme – the fear of death. Cheery stuff.

Overall then, Black Tuesday is film noir at its darkest pitch. It’s a stylish, nihilistic classic that is hopefully going to be discovered by a much wider audience, following this release.

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