''Southside 1-1000'' is a 1950
semidocumentary
A semidocumentary is a form of book, film, or television program presenting a fictional story that incorporates many factual details or actual events, or which is presented in a manner similar to a documentary.
Characteristics
Stylistically, it ...
-style
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
directed by
Boris Ingster featuring
Don DeFore
Donald John DeFore (August 25, 1913 – December 22, 1993) was an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the sitcom ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' from 1952 to 1957 and the sitcom ''Hazel'' from 1961 to 1965, the former of w ...
,
Andrea King
Andrea King (born Georgette André Barry; February 1, 1919 – April 22, 2003) was an American stage, film, and television actress, sometimes billed as Georgette McKee.
Early life
Andrea King was born Georgette André Barry on February 1, 1919, ...
,
George Tobias
George Tobias (July 14, 1901 – February 27, 1980) was an American theater, film and television actor. He had character parts and supporting roles in several major films of Hollywood's Golden Age. He is also known for his role as Abner K ...
and
Gerald Mohr
Gerald Mohr (June 11, 1914 – November 9, 1968) was an American radio, film, and television character actor and frequent leading man, who appeared in more than 500 radio plays, 73 films, and over 100 television shows.
Early years
Mohr wa ...
as the off-screen narrator. It is about a Secret Service agent (Don DeFore) who goes undercover and moves into a hotel run by a beautiful female manager (Andrea King), so that he can investigate a counterfeiting ring. The agent is up against hardened felons such as the gang member played by George Tobias, an unusual example of casting
against type
In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...
for the typically comic actor. It is one of Ingster's two film noirs, the other being ''
Stranger on the Third Floor'' (1940), which is considered the first noir film.
Plot
Based on a true story, the US Secret Service searches for a gang of counterfeiters, whose brilliant
engraver Eugene Deane (
Morris Ankrum
Morris Ankrum (born Morris Nussbaum; August 28, 1897 – September 2, 1964) was an American radio, television, and film character actor.
Early life
Born in Danville, Illinois, Danville in Vermilion County, Illinois, Vermilion County in eastern ...
) has secretly made his plates while in San Quentin prison on a life sentence, and had them smuggled out by a priest tricked into serving as a
mule
The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...
. The film starts as documentary-style section in which a male narrator explains the crucial role of
paper currency
A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand.
Banknotes were originally issued ...
in underpinning trade in the economy. Then the narrator explains how the US
Treasury Department ensures that the value of this currency is safeguarded by using its intrepid Secret Service agents, who find fake bills in circulation and track down and arrest the counterfeiters who created them. This part of the film, which has a patriotic and jingoistic feel, shows
newsreel
A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, informa ...
-style
stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...
of Treasury Department agents ("
T-Men
''T-Men'' is a 1947 semidocumentary and police procedural style film noir about United States Treasury agents. The film was directed by Anthony Mann and shot by noted noir cameraman John Alton. The production features Dennis O'Keefe, Mary Meade ...
") and US soldiers fighting in the then-active
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
.
When counterfeit $10 bills spread across the country, showing up at casinos and racetracks, the Treasury Department realizes that the bills are Deane's work. The officers set up surveillance on the counterfeit gang and find a travelling salesman who has been distributing the bills across the country, hoping to capture and interrogate him. However, a ruthless member of the counterfeiting gang (
George Tobias
George Tobias (July 14, 1901 – February 27, 1980) was an American theater, film and television actor. He had character parts and supporting roles in several major films of Hollywood's Golden Age. He is also known for his role as Abner K ...
) gets to the salesman first and kills him by
throwing him out a window before he can talk and possibly lead the agents to the gang.
The Secret Service then puts undercover agent John Riggs (
Don DeFore
Donald John DeFore (August 25, 1913 – December 22, 1993) was an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the sitcom ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' from 1952 to 1957 and the sitcom ''Hazel'' from 1961 to 1965, the former of w ...
) on the case. Riggs poses as a thief who is interested in buying and selling counterfeit bills, to learn more about the gang and gather evidence. Riggs works the clues, which leads him to a Los Angeles hotel where the dead salesman lived. Riggs moves into the hotel as part of his undercover work, where he gets recruited by gang members. He also meets the beautiful hotel manager, Nora Craig (
Andrea King
Andrea King (born Georgette André Barry; February 1, 1919 – April 22, 2003) was an American stage, film, and television actress, sometimes billed as Georgette McKee.
Early life
Andrea King was born Georgette André Barry on February 1, 1919, ...
).
While Riggs is romantically attracted to Craig, he also realizes that she may be connected to the counterfeiting gang. Riggs finds out that Craig is not only the manager of the hotel, but also the boss of the counterfeiting gang, commanding a crew of hardened felons. He finds out that her father is Deane, the old engraver in prison. The movie's climax arrives when the counterfeiters realize Riggs is a federal agent and threaten to kill him. As other federal agents and police invade the gang's lair, it ends up set on fire. The gang and officers have a pitched gun battle amidst cable car rail trestles and bridges, and Craig plunges to her death.
Cast
*
Don DeFore
Donald John DeFore (August 25, 1913 – December 22, 1993) was an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the sitcom ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'' from 1952 to 1957 and the sitcom ''Hazel'' from 1961 to 1965, the former of w ...
as John Riggs/Nick Starnes
*
Andrea King
Andrea King (born Georgette André Barry; February 1, 1919 – April 22, 2003) was an American stage, film, and television actress, sometimes billed as Georgette McKee.
Early life
Andrea King was born Georgette André Barry on February 1, 1919, ...
as Nora Craig
*
George Tobias
George Tobias (July 14, 1901 – February 27, 1980) was an American theater, film and television actor. He had character parts and supporting roles in several major films of Hollywood's Golden Age. He is also known for his role as Abner K ...
as Reggie
*
Barry Kelley
Edward Barry Kelley (August 19, 1908 – June 5, 1991) was an American actor on Broadway in the 1930s and 1940s and in films during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. The heavy-set actor created the role of Ike in '' Oklahoma!'' on Broadway. His l ...
as Bill Evans
*
Morris Ankrum
Morris Ankrum (born Morris Nussbaum; August 28, 1897 – September 2, 1964) was an American radio, television, and film character actor.
Early life
Born in Danville, Illinois, Danville in Vermilion County, Illinois, Vermilion County in eastern ...
as Eugene Deane
*
Robert Osterloh
Robert Osterloh (May 31, 1918 – April 16, 2001) was an American actor. His career spanned 20 years, appearing in films such as ''The Dark Past'' (1948), ''The Wild One'' (1953), '' I Bury the Living'' (1958) and ''Young Dillinger'' (1965).
Bio ...
as Albert
* Charles Cane as Harris
* Kippee Valez as Singer
*
Joe Turkel
Joseph Turkel (July 15, 1927 – June 27, 2022) was an American character actor who starred in film and television during the Golden Age Era in the 1950s and 1960s. He is known for his roles in Stanley Kubrick's films '' The Killing'', ''Paths ...
as Frankie
*
John Harmon as Nimble Willie
*
G. Pat Collins as Hugh B. Pringle – Treasury Agent
* Douglas Spencer as Prison Chaplain
* Joan Miller as Mrs. Clara Evans
*
William Forrest as Prison Warden
Production
The final fight-to-the-death scene was filmed aboard Los Angeles' "
Angels Flight
Angels Flight is a landmark and historic narrow gauge funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It has two funicular cars, named ''Olivet'' and ''Sinai'', that run in opposite directions on a shared c ...
", a cable-car service hanging 40 feet above the ground.
It was the last in a series of movies King Brothers made for Allied Artists.
Reception
A November 1950 review in ''The New York Times'' commented: "In the cinema's library of routine gangster fiction, ''Southside 1-1000'' merits a comfortable middle-class rating being neither especially exciting nor particularly dull".
Film critic Craig Butler of Allmovie wrote, "''Southside 1-1000'' is a good pseudo-noir film told in pseudodocumentary fashion, but it also must register as a bit of a disappointment. It's functional and all the parts fit together smoothly, making it run like a fairly well-oiled machine -- but it lacks real spark. Given director Boris Ingster's impressive work on the seminal ''
Stranger on the Third Floor'', one expects something a bit more unusual or off the beaten path – or at least distinctive. Instead, ''Southside'' looks like it could have been the work of any competent director".
Butler, Craig
''AllMovie'', film/DVD review, no date. Accessed: August 19, 2013. Michael Barrett of PopMatters rated it 4/10 stars and called it "an unnecessary and forgettable entry in the genre".[
]
References
External links
*
*
*
*
information site and DVD review at DVD Beaver (includes images)
* {{YouTube, yB70Pgnf5ow, ''Southside 1-1000'' film scene
1950 films
1950 crime films
American crime films
American black-and-white films
Film noir
Allied Artists films
Counterfeit money in film
Films scored by Paul Sawtell
1950s English-language films
1950s American films