HELL ON FRISCO BAY

US, 1955, 98 minutes, Colour.
Alan Ladd, Edward G. Robinson, Joanne Dru, Paul Stewart, William Demarest, Fay Wray.
Directed by Frank Tuttle.

Hell On Frisco Bay is an entertaining gangster story set in San Francisco in the '50s. It uses Cinemascope and colour and has a star performance from Alan Ladd matching himself against Edward G. Robinson - in roles familiar from the '30s as in Little Caesar and in the '40s as in Key Largo. There is a substantial supporting cast including William Demarest. Paul Stewart, Fay Wray. The attractive heroine is Joanne Dru. Direction is by Frank Tuttle who made a number of thrillers of this kind in the '50s. The atmosphere is tough, reflects the stark presentation of the issues in the '30s and '40s gangster tradition.

1. The title of the film? The ominous tones? The San Francisco setting? The appeal of the gangster film? The wronged hero and his vengeance? The suffering heroine? The role of gangsters, their cruelty, their defeat?

2. The tradition of the American gangster film - the black and white films of the '30s and their contemporary relevance, their warnings? The exploitation of action and excitement as well as warning? How does this apply to this more colourful example from the '50s?

3. The use of Cinemascope, San Francisco location photography, colour? The Max Steiner score? The atmosphere of authenticity for the characters, the gangster situations? The world of Fishermen's Wharf? The police? The special effects in the final chase?

4. The plausibility of the plot - the framing of Rollins and his imprisonment? Amato and his influence? Marcia and her waiting for her husband,, her failure and his hard attitude towards her? The role of the San Francisco police in confronting the gangsters? Rollins taking things into his own hand? The build-up against Amato? The final confrontation? Contrived dramatic melodrama for the purposes of action plot?

5. Alan Ladd as hero - his solemness in being released from prison. his friendship with the policeman, his hostility towards Marcia and the reasons for it? His visiting the families, the priest, the other police and their hostility towards him, the men at the bar, the toughs, the people at Fishermen's Wharf? The toughening up, the response to violence? The encounter with Kay and her information, Amato's wife and family? Maric, and his giving of information? The final confrontation with Amato and the violence - the protection of Kay, of Marcia? The information given by Lye and his trying to break away from Amato? The relenting at the end? The picture of the tough American hero of the '50s?

6. Edward G. Robinson as villain - his kingdom and the way that he administered it, Mario, Lye? His supreme self-confidence and his being betrayed? His hold over his wife? The deals that he did, the money that he made, the pressures? The murders e.g. the old man in the harbour? The use of the police? The final pitting him against Rollins and his defeat in the harbour chase? An accurate portrait of a gangster?

7. The minor villains - Mario and his easily being intimidated e.g. in the toilet, his being killed by Amato? Lye and his love for Kay, his clash with Amato, the pretending about the death, the inevitability of his death? The various people on the wharf both good and evil?

8. William Demarest as the friendly policeman. contacts, persuading the authorities to support Rollins? Personal help?

9. Marcia and her mistake during the imprisonment, her waiting for her husband, his rejection of her, her decision to go East, the final reconciliation? Her songs? Credible heroine? Kay as the faded film star, her love for Lye, her dependence on him, her helping him and the support of Rollins? The place of women in this gangster world?

10. The atmosphere of violence, the action sequences, deaths, the final chase?

11. The moral issues - justice and society, personal Injustice and vengeance? The impact of the gangster film and audience reaction to the world of gangsters?