Tonight's Movie: Vice Squad (1953) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

The latest Dark Side of Cinema collection from Kino Lorber, Volume XVII, features a trio of films starring Edward G. Robinson.

All three films are new to me: BLACK TUESDAY (1954), NIGHTMARE (1956), and the movie I just watched, VICE SQUAD (1953).

VICE SQUAD was definitely my kind of movie; this straightforward, no frills film is what I consider "comfort viewing." It's a police procedural with a terrific cast and evocative Southern California locations.

As the film begins a police officer is killed in cold blood when he catches a couple crooks, Al Barkis (Edward Binns) and Pete Monty (Lee Van Cleef), hotwiring a car at a dealer lot.

For the next 24 hours we follow Vice Squad Captain Barnie Barnaby (Robinson) as he juggles a variety of cases while attempting to solve the murder. (It's never quite clear why the Vice Squad is involved with a homicide, but we'll set that aside.)

Barnie gets a tip on a pending bank robbery which might be connected to the killing, and he also deals with a potential murder witness (Porter Hall) who doesn't want his wife to find out where he was if he testifies.

Escort service head Mona Ross (Paulette Goddard) also comes up with a helpful tip to help track down the bad guys. Barnie seems to look the other way where Mona's business is concerned, as long as she continues to provide him with useful information.

It's a fast-paced 88 minutes, directed by Arnold Laven and written by Lawrence Roman, based on a novel by Leslie T. White.

With its interlocking stories, gritty settings, sarcastic humor, and Robinson's busy "walk and talk" scenes, the film at times seems rather modern in style, very much a forerunner of later shows like HILL STREET BLUES.

On the other hand, the unethical techniques used to keep the reluctant witness played by Porter Hall in custody seem very much a relic of the past. It's also hard to imagine today's cops running a bunco suspect out of town, complete with paid train ticket.

As always, Robinson is highly watchable and compelling. Goddard has essentially a colorful character role; I can't imagine she worked on the film more than a couple days, but she gives the part her all.

Goddard's role is also interesting as the film is quite obvious about her "business." The dialogue may be more circumspect than is used today but the film makes the unsavory goings-on clear. I found it quite frank for an early '50s film; it was shot at the end of 1952.

K.T. Stevens (ADDRESS UNKNOWN) plays Barnie's efficient secretary Ginny. The cast also includes familiar faces such as Joan Vohs, Dan Riss, Barry Kelley, William Boyett, Jay Adler, Adam Williams, Percy Helton, Mickey Knox, and Harry Lewis, to name just a few. Mary Ellen Kay is effective as a bank teller.

The black and white photography was by Joseph F. Biroc, with location filming taking place in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, and Long Beach.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray print is a new HD master from a 2K scan of the 35mm fine grain. I recall seeing a few minutes of this movie on Turner Classic Movies many years ago, and the print was pretty rough. By contrast, this new Blu-ray looks terrific, sharp and clear, with very good sound.

Disc extras consist of a commentary track by Gary Gerani, who also provides a commentary for the set's BLACK TUESDAY; a trailer with French graphics and English narration; and two additional trailers for other films available from Kino Lorber.

I quite enjoyed VICE SQUAD and look forward to seeing the next two films in the set.  (Update: Here are my reviews of BLACK TUESDAY and NIGHTMARE.)

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray collection.

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