Black Hand (1950)

Masterful Movie

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Sandwiched between On the Town and Summer Stock, this film represented a radical change of vehicle for Gene Kelly. According to MGM's publicity, he requested the role himself. As it turned out, it did his career no harm. In tact, it boosted his macho image and was surprisingly successful at the box office, returning a handsome dividend for a modest investment.Apart from the dialogue scenes, it is difficult to credit the film to director Richard Thorpe, as the action footage is brilliant in every way. The script is exciting too (we like the character of the bodyguard assigned to Naish), although it is not as well constructed as the later version, Pay Or Die (which starred Ernest Borgnine in the Naish role). For this one, MGM's art department have constructed some marvelous sets, which are superbly lit by cinematographer Paul C. Vogel. The performances are also better than we might expect. Kelly is capable enough in a fight and reasonably convincing as an Italian. J. Carroll Naish plays without his usual hammy mannerisms and Teresa Celli is also impressive in what transpired to be her first and only starring role. She made her film debut as the Mexican wife in Border Incident, and subsequently appeared in Nancy Goes to Rio, The Asphalt Jungle, Crisis, Right Cross and The Great Caruso after which she disappeared briefly into TV. Black Hand also marks the only film appearance of stage actress Eleonora Mendelssohn, a former star for producer Max Reinhardt in Berlin and a great-great-granddaughter of composer Felix Mendelssohn.All in all, suspenseful, well-produced entertainment. (Even Bosley Crowther agrees with us.) The whole idea doesn't sound all that appealing or even workable, but MGM have brought it off with honors.

The 'Black Hand' was an extortion racket used by the mafia and other forms of organized crime. Anonymous letters demanding money were sent with the understanding that should the recipient not pay, horribly violent things will result. Each letter was signed with a black hand print--hence the name. Apparently, it was pretty much eliminated in the US by the 1920s, as negative publicity and increased police action had a serious effect on this practice.This film begins with an Italian-American standing up to the Black Hand and assisting the police. However, there is a traitor amongst them and the man is killed by these creeps. The dead man's son grows up and makes it his life work to defeat these forces of darkness--it's vendetta time. This grown up man is played by Gene Kelly--a very, very peculiar choice by the studio. This pretty song and dance man is not exactly the mob-fighting sort--at least not in any of his other films. Now I am not saying it was a bad choice--just very odd.After Kelly returns to America years later, things haven't changed that much. The Black Hand is still rampant and people are still afraid to talk or stand up to them. Much of the film consists of Kelly trying to organize the neighborhood against these thugs. Not surprisingly, they are met with kidnappings and murder and it looks as if they are just in over their heads--the criminals must win. Can the forces of niceness prevail? Can Kelly do a good job in a tough-guy role? Will the film be entertaining? Well, the answer to all of these is yes--the film was well done and quite convincing. And, shock of all shocks, Gene Kelly (yes, THAT Gene Kelly) was just fine. The film is a lot like a film noir movie--dark, very violent and with a few unusual twists and changes to the formula. Well worth your time and one of Kelly's best screen roles.Wow...wonders never cease. Imagine seeing Gene Kelly throwing knives, killing people, slugging and vowing a vendetta in a film!! Was this movie made on Bizarro World?!

Black Hand came about when Gene Kelly asked Louis B. Mayer for a change of pace from his musical films. According to the Citadel film series book The Films Of Gene Kelly, Mayer was inclined to give it to him because Kelly was coming off big hits like On The Town and Take Me Out To The Ballgame and Summer Stock, all of which more than returned their money. Without Kelly's name Black Hand would have been a nice, but routine gangster film set in Little Italy in the ragtime years of the last century. It came from MGM's B picture unit so a whole lot of money wasn't spent on it.Kelly plays a young kid who saw his father stand up to the Black Hand in America and be killed for it. The father was a lawyer in the old country and Kelly had the same ambition. When he grows up he returns to America with the burning ambition to find out who is extorting the immigrants in America and take them down. Having that same ambition is police lieutenant J. Carrol Naish who Kelly joins forces with.Although Kelly gets star billing, it's really Naish that carries the film although he's killed three quarters of the way into the story. His character is based on the real life Lieutenant Joseph Petrosino who had a biographical film of his own ten years later in Pay Or Die where Ernest Borgnine starred. Naish was Hollywood's all purpose ethnic, good at every kind of nationality with every dialect you can imagine.Oddly enough Kelly really has no handle on how to deal with the Black Hand, they're beating him up and besting him at every turn until the very end when a stroke of luck that nearly kills him causes the tables to be turned. But you have to watch the film to see exactly what.Black Hand was a decent routine costume noir for lack of a better term as it is not set in the present day. It certainly did Kelly's career no harm as he got good reviews for the part.

Gene Kelly was a perfectly good dramatic actor(e.g Inherit the Wind,Seagulls Over Sorrento)but it is not good casting asking him to play an earnest young Italian American intent on avenging the death of his father at the hands of New York gang the Black Hand He tries the legal route,aided by a veteran Italian-American cop,played in another bizarre piece of casting by J Carroll Naish,before resorting to a physical confrontation with the bad guys The movie moves briskly and will satisfy those looking for an afternoon's diversion in front of the TV but the acting does not quite pass muster and the bad guys never seem all thar much of a threat Good direction though with some well handled action scenes