Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

DubyaHan The movie is wildly uneven but lively and timely - in its own surreal way

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

noche101 I just watched this film for the first time, never having heard of it before. When I saw the names Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney in the opening credits, I paused. Was this "Laura"? Thank goodness it wasn't. "Laura" is a film that has always left me cold and underwhelmed. This film was engaging, gritty, and there was real chemistry between the leads. Dana Andrews is a guilt-ridden cop torn between right and wrong, love, and hate. Gene Tierney has a warmth and humanity that makes her a sympathetic victim and the only hope Mark has of redemption. I found myself rooting for these star crossed lovers who need each other despite the secret between them. I loved the scenes at Martha's restaurant.... And Mark's moral dilemma had me at the edge of my seat until the very end. Loved it!

LeonLouisRicci The central character, a troubled cop, is the nucleus of this Film-Noir and as things spiral out of control we are swept into this milieu of maniacs and the machinations of Police procedures. It is compelling cinema and its claustrophobic cage of confinement are ever present.The two stars are here to give us a foundation in an otherwise floundering footing of cement and steel, plaster and glass. They both deliver superb performances and are supported by a strong backdrop of characters and cronies. The cop's alter-ego is a loathsome, effeminate, drug sniffing snob who surrounds himself with beefcake.The Director is not one of the best of Noir's pantheon but manages to deliver a better than average entry despite his penchant for glossy grotesques rather than a down and dirty look. His underbelly always seems to have just a little too much palatability. A look at rather than a look from the gutter. A perspective that ultimately plays better in melodrama than pure Film-Noir.

Roger Pettit "Where the Sidewalk Ends" is film noir at its best: entertaining, well-acted and directed, with a very good plot and outstanding cinematography and character depiction. Based on the hardboiled crime novel "Night Cry" by William L Stuart (which I have not read), the film tells the story of 16th precinct New York police detective Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews). Dixon is somewhat unconventional in his working methods. He seems to want to punish criminals in addition to investigating them, an attitude that apparently springs from his relationship with his father who was a thief and who died when Dixon was 17 years old while trying to escape from jail. At the beginning of the film, Dixon is not only passed over for promotion because of his disruptive approach to his work but is also demoted. While investigating the death of a wealthy patron of an illegal crap game, he accidentally murders the principal suspect while trying to get information from him. He covers his tracks but, in doing so, inadvertently casts suspicion on an innocent taxi driver, who happens to be the victim's father-in-law. To complicate matters further, Dixon falls in love with Morgan (Gene Tierney), the taxi driver's daughter and the estranged wife of the man he has killed. Matters continue from there (but it would be inappropriate to say anything more about them).The acting in "Where the Sidewalk Ends" is superb. Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney give excellent performances and are ably supported by Karl Malden (who plays the detective who is promoted at Dixon's expense) and Gary Merrill (who plays Scalise, the crook who organised the illegal crap game that brought about the events depicted in the film). Andrews's performance skilfully elicits sympathy from the viewer for a character who is dogged by his antecedents and by the anguish and injury that his unconventional behaviour causes. The screenplay is very good indeed. And one of the many effective aspects of the film is its judicious use of its excellent score. Indeed, one of the notable features of "Where the Sidewalk Ends" is the comparative absence of music in important parts of the film. The opening credits, which consist primarily of a picture of a pair of feet walking along a pavement (sidewalk), have no musical accompaniment at all. There are some faults. A fight scene involving Dixon and Scalise and his fellow hoodlums seems amateurish in execution (many of the seemingly effective punches thrown make no contact whatsoever with their intended targets), even for a film made in 1950. And the optimistic tone of the conclusion jars somewhat. But, despite its faults, "Where the Sidewalk Ends" is a very clever, enjoyable and entertaining film. 8/10.

danburyn Perhaps the most gripping and intelligent of crooked cop movies is Otto Preminger's 'Where the Sidewalks Ends,' from a really excellent script by Ben Hecht based on the novel 'Night Cry' by Frank Rosenberg. Dana Andrews is the honest, tough New York policeman, always in trouble with his superiors because he likes his own strong-arm methods as much as he detests crooks. When he hit someone, his knuckles hurt. And the man he wants to hit is a smooth villain (Gary Merrill) who points up the title. 'Why are you always trying to push me in the gutter?' he asks Andrews. 'I have as much right on the sidewalk as you. this film showed great camera work and use lighting in great ways. they zoomed in great and used the camera as a character in the film. Over all this is a good movie it worth watching and recommend it to everyone.