Down Three Dark Streets

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Down Three Dark Streets
Down Three Dark Streets FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Arnold Laven
Screenplay by Gordon Gordon
Bernard C. Schonefeld
Based onCase File: FBI
1953 novel
by Mildred Gordon
(as The Gordons)
Produced by Arthur Gardner
Jules V. Levy
Edward Small (executive)
Starring Broderick Crawford
Ruth Roman
Cinematography Joseph F. Biroc
Edited by Grant Whytock
Music by Paul Sawtell
Production
company
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • September 3, 1954 (1954-09-03)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$275,000 [1]
Box office$400,000 [1]
Down Three Dark Streets (1954), trailer

Down Three Dark Streets is a 1954 American film noir crime film starring Broderick Crawford and Ruth Roman. Directed by Arnold Laven, the picture's screenplay was written by Gordon Gordon and Mildred Gordon, based on their novel Case File FBI. [2]

Contents

Plot

FBI agent Zach Stewart is assigned three new cases by his boss, John Ripley, which are added to his existing case load. One involves wanted fugitive Joe Walpo, who has killed a gas-station attendant. Another concerns a department store fashion buyer, Kate Martell, who is being extorted by a man threatening to kill her daughter. A third has to do with a gang of thugs who hijack cars.

While interviewing a woman of concern Stewart was shot dead by a hidden assailant. With the assistance of local L.A.P.D. detectives Ripley picks up Stewart's new cases, thinking that one of them may reveal the identity of Stewart's murderer.

Ripley and his new partner trail Connie Anderson, a girlfriend of Walpo's, to his hideout, where Ripley shoots him. They tie up the car-jacking case and are then able to narrow down who the killer of the FBI agent must be.

They follow Kate to the "Hollywood" sign in the hills above Los Angeles, where she has been told to bring the money. There the extortionist is revealed to be a man named Milson who had shown a romantic interest in Kate, leading to a confrontation with Ripley.

Cast

Production

Writing

J. Edgar Hoover objected to early drafts of the script. [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Why Vidpix Makes Sense". Variety. 11 March 1959. p. 32.
  2. O. A. G.. (Sep 4, 1954). "Palace Offers a Melodrama About F. B. I.". New York Times. p. 6.
  3. Three Dark Streets article at Turner Classic Movies accessed 19 June 2022