Port of New York (film)

Port of New York is a 1949 film noir directed by Lszl Benedek with cinematography by George E. Diskant and shot in semidocumentary style. The film is notable for being Yul Brynners first movie. He had not begun shaving his head yet. The film, which is very similar to TMen 1947, was shot on location in New York City.

The film critic of The Austin Chronicle generally liked the film, writing, Semidocumentary police procedurals became quite popular for a while in the late Forties, with lots of location shooting and officialsounding voiceovers. Port of New York follows in the style of The House on 92nd Street and Jules Dassins The Naked City, with a fair amount of suspense and plenty of violent fisticuffs. George Diskant brought his striking camera work to bear as well sometimes the dark film is so dark its hard to even see whats going on. Most notable, however, is Brynners first film role he plays Vicola with sleek menace and selfassured evil and with a full head of hair, too, I might add. Not an outstanding film, Port of New York is wellsuited to its subject matter and has been rather neglected for years.Film critic Dennis Schwartz gave the film a mixed review, writing, An unknown Yul Brynner, with all his hair, in his first film role, plays a wellspoken, smug narcotics smuggler named Paul Vicola. Its directed by Lazslo Benedek The Wild OneThe Night VisitorDeath of a Salesman in a voiceover documentary style ... It generates an authentic sinister atmosphere, having been filmed on location in New York. The police investigation procedural drama plays as minor film noir, that follows along the usual routine lines for such EagleLion cheapie crime stories ... Not much to get excited about, but it does feature an early acting part by Yul Brynner as a ruthless gangster. ........

Source: Wikipedia