Where the Sidewalk Ends (Fox Film Noir)
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bert Freed, Dana Andrews, Gary Merrill, Gene Tierney, Tom TullyBrand: Fox
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 1.0
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 95 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-12-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Movie Reviews of Where the Sidewalk Ends (Fox Film Noir)
Movie Review: Rough Cop Caught Between the Rock and the Hard Place in Excellent Film Noir...
Summary: 5 Stars
The set up and the dark photography in Otto Preminger's film noir from 1950 provide all the necessities to create a dark and morally corrupt environment. Even the title Where the Sidewalk Ends alludes to an ominous atmosphere of a looming end in a mundane environment. The opening reveals that Detective Sergeant Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews) who has a record of beating up suspects, and it costs him his rank within the police force. On top of this, a peer, Thomas (Karl Malden), from his police school days is taking over as Police Chief for the 16th Precinct in which he works. It is a hard blow to his ego, as there is nothing more important to Dixon than to putting criminals behind bars.
It is within the imperfect persona performed by Dana Andrews that the story gets its captivating quality. Dixon lives a lonely life while his workaholic attitude finds nourishment in his deep fiery hatred towards criminals, which is also the reason why he finds himself in trouble with his superiors. The solitude of Dixon overshadows the whole story and it accentuates the tough elements of film noir within the film. Little by little, the story reveals why Dixon has such a strong hatred for delinquent characters, as it also provides additional support of the elements of film noir within the film.
Dixon's job brings him on long and tough shifts amidst the murky nights of New York City where he comes across a murder in a small and ritzy underground gambling club. The club happens to belong to a shady character named Tom Scalise (Gary Merrill) with whom Dixon has crossed paths with in the past. They are in good terms with one another, on the contrary Dixon treats him like the lowest scum in the world, which is an indicator that he thinks Scalise is a crook. The whole situation seems fishy to Dixon, but evidence and witnesses' point out a specific wife-abusing Kenneth Paine (Craig Stevens) as the perpetrator.
Despite Dixon's personal objections to the suspect's identity, he must investigate the lead. When Dixon knocks on Paine's door he finds him drunk talking on the phone while also unaware of why the police would like to see him. In the drunken stupor, Paine tries to strike him with a bottle, but Dixon reacts quickly in his usual manner by striking back. However, it is the last time for Dixon to strike a suspect, as Paine ceases to breathe after a fall. The fear crawling over his face after becoming aware of Paine's death is very noticeable, but subtle expressions suggest that he is considering his options. Dixon is aware of people's knowledge of his aggressive nature towards criminals while the warning from his supervisor echoes in his head.
Cornered without witnesses observing the act of self-defense Dixon begin to choose the path he so much despises. The audience is aware of the events taking place, but the audience is also aware of how the situation will be interpreted, a cop going overboard and killed a suspect in the process. It is within this moral predicament of justice where the cinematic value emerges, as Dixon also begins to develop strong feelings for Paine's wife Morgan Taylor (Gene Tierney). The film becomes increasingly more complex, as with it its complexity a fascinating film noir emerges that struggles with right and wrong while scrutinize a man's conscious and moral fabric.
Summary of Where the Sidewalk Ends (Fox Film Noir)
WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS - DVD MovieOtto Preminger made four films noirs at Fox, all terrific. If we set aside the peerless Laura as more psychological mystery-romance than noir, there's plenty of evidence for judging Where the Sidewalk Ends the best of the lot (the other two being Fallen Angel, a study in small-town perversity, and Whirlpool, a delicious exercise in creepy psychology, slippery mise-en-scène, and daringly complicated point-of-view). It's a hard-edged tale of a borderline-vicious New York police detective, Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews), with tortuous personal reasons for overzealousness in going after the bad guys. Much of the film unreels in one night, when the murder of a high-roller from out of town precipitates a string of events that lead to Dixon's becoming an accidental killer. Preminger's direction is taut, forceful, and fluid, especially when Dixon sets about creating an alibi for himself. Unfortunately, an innocent man gets implicated, with Dixon looking on, and the guilty cop's moral and psychological torment increases with each turn of the screw.
Tightly scripted by Ben Hecht, Preminger's film lacks the anguished poetry of Nicholas Ray's On Dangerous Ground, another 1950 noir centered on a cop (Robert Ryan) addicted to ultraviolence, but its grip is relentless. Preminger had a shrewd instinct for tapping a certain thuggish strain in Andrews, whose performance here is arguably his best. They're reunited with Gene Tierney, as a woman caught in the sidewash of sordid goings-on, and Laura cameraman Joseph La Shelle, whose work has a luster beyond the accustomed semidocumentary look of Fox noirs. Gary Merrill, usually a bland nice-guy, relishes the chance to play nasty as Dixon's gangland bête noire Tommy Scalise, a homoerotic villain in the Tommy Udo vein with a menthol inhaler as fetish object. --Richard T. Jameson
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