Just a glance at the ingredients is sometimes enough to tell you you're going to like the house specialty. First up, we have a carefully planned and executed heist, added to that is a bunch of edgy and suspicious hoods, a vindictive and brutal police force, and a textbook example of a fall guy. Kansas City Confidential (1952) consists of the kind of components that spell noir in unmistakably flickering neon. It's all about double-crosses and cheats, keeping the other guy guessing and off-guard while looking out for a chance to get even for the cheap brush-off fate has handed you.
Joe Rolfe (John Payne) is a classic noir protagonist, a poor sap who can't seem to catch a break no matter what. He's had an (incomplete) education and a war record to be proud of but he's also had a little trouble with the law. A mistake on his part has led to his doing some time inside and now his prospects are a little dimmed. We first catch sight of him at work, driving a delivery van for a florist. Someone else sees him too, a man (Preston Foster) across the way with a stopwatch is timing is movements. Why? Because a heist, an armored car raid, is being set up and part of that setup is hanging a frame round the neck of Joe Rolfe. The police will be sweating, and beating, the innocent delivery guy while the real thieves are making their getaway with $1.2 million along for their trouble. The beauty of this raid, aside from the convenient patsy to occupy the law, is the idea to make all the participants wear masks that means their anonymity (and thus their inability to identify or be identified) is ensured. The concept of honor among thieves has always been a sour joke and brains behind this robbery is well aware of that and so has taken these steps so as to avoid having to depend on any such fairy tales. By the time the police have finished pummeling Rolfe and released him he hasn't much beyond cold shoulders and welfare to look forward to, that and a desire to find the men who put him in this bind. He's handed one lead - a criminal called Pete Harris (Jack Elam) has recently lit out unexpectedly for Tijuana in Mexico and it's just possible it may be to avoid the attentions of the law. And so Rolfe heads south, looking for men he's never seen, money he's never laid hands on, and a reputation he might never retrieve.
Noir from the 50s has a slightly different feel and flavor to it, the crimes that typically underpin such stories tend to be less personal than those of the previous decade. While the focus remains on the individuals involved and the consequences faced by them, there is an increasing shift towards organized crime and a frequently faceless threat. It's kind of appropriate, therefore, that the villains of this piece are essentially faceless men, career criminals stripped of all identity beyond their own left-handed professionalism, and answerable only to another disguised figure. Even our hero in this story of deception, deceit and illusion indulges in the same chameleon-like behavior, stepping into the shoes of another man in order to coax his enemies out into the open. The setting is altered too, although the movie opens in an urban environment it soon moves out of the city to a small Mexican vacation resort, a place tourists usually visit for the fishing but the people we're watching are angling for something else. Anyway, regardless of what variations on the classic noir formula are on view, director Phil Karlson turns in a characteristically strong piece of work. He moves the camera around with great fluidity, catching every subtle nuance in what is a tricky game of bluff and counter-bluff.
I've talked before about John Payne's noir work and I'll just reiterate here that he was particularly skilled in nailing the resigned quality that is such an important part of make-up of characters in this type of cinema. The role here suits him well and he has the innate toughness you'd expect of a war veteran, the intelligence of an educated man but also the weariness of one who's had to face up to the unpalatable fact that life doesn't play fair all the time. In addition to Payne, there's a supporting cast to die for. Preston Foster was well cast in a reasonably complex part - it called for a confident, avuncular smoothness in one respect but also required a diamond-hard core.
Coleen Gray is fine too playing a woman who is having the wool pulled over her eyes by just about everyone yet she's supposed to be on the verge of becoming a lawyer; while this isn't any criticism of the actress I think the script is probably at its weakest, or least logical anyway, on this score. The other woman in the cast is Dona Drake who was clearly having a good time as a flirtatious souvenir seller. And of course we have the holy trinity of heavies in Jack Elam, Lee Van Cleef and Neville Brand. I sometimes think it's a shame all three don't get to spend more time on screen together, but then again it may have just led to character actor gluttony - one way or another, we do get to see a lot of all of them and there's really not a lot to complain about.
Kansas City Confidential is a film that spent a long time in public domain hell as far as commercial releases are concerned. For a long time the only way to see the movie was by viewing grotty copies with fuzzy contrast and non-existent detail. Then, some years ago, MGM put out a quality version of the title on DVD in the US and it was a revelation. There have been a few Blu-ray releases since then but, by all accounts, these are waxy-looking affairs which haven't been restored but simply had flaws (and vital detail too) digitally scrubbed away. As far as I'm aware, the old MGM DVD remains the best edition on the market. Digital issues and quibbles aside, the film is an excellent film noir, a highlight in the resumés of the cast and the director.
