Polttavat katukivet

Robert Taylor stars in the MGM film as Christopher Kelvaney, a corrupt cop of Irish descent, who is on the payroll of the local mob and everybody knows about it. His younger brother Eddie, also a man with a badge, tries to take the honest path, but it costs him his life. This tragic event makes Chris rethink his priorities and take on the gangsters. Forty-three-year-old Taylor uses his charisma in the role, as well as the wealth of experience he accumulated in his twenty years in Hollywood. The rest of the film’s cast is also strong, with Janet Leigh as Eddie’s girlfriend, George Raft as the head of a mob syndicate, and Vince Edwards in a smaller role as a hitman. Roy Rowland’s direction and John F. Seitz’s Oscar-nominated cinematography assume the quasi-documentary mode, as was customary after the war. The film is characterized by a laconic style without undue sentimentality, although it is also partly a family melodrama. (Noir Film Festival)