Southside 1-1000

Director: Boris Ingster Boris Ingster

Overview

In the tradition of 20th Century Fox's semi-documentary "Now it can be told" films, Monogram Picture's "A" division Allied Artists came up with Southside 1-1000. The U.S. Secret Service goes after a gang of counterfeiters, whose engraver (Morris Ankrum) has covertly constructed his plates while in prison. A federal agent (Don DeFore) poses as the counterfeiters' contact man in order to purchase enough bills to incriminate the gang. The final fight-to-the-death scene was filmed aboard Los Angeles' "Angel's Flight," a cable-car service dangling 40 feet above the ground. Southside 1-1000 was based on a true story, as narrator Gerald Mohr points out on several occasions.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/21/2012
UPC:	0883316586921
Original Release:	1950
Source:	Warner Archives
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Full Frame]
Sound:	[monaural]
Language:	English
Time:	1:19:00
Sales rank:	42,357

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Don DeFore	John Riggs, Nick Starns
Andrea King	Nora Craig
George Tobias	Reggie
Barry Kelley	Evans
Morris Ankrum	Eugene Deane
Robert Osterloh	Albert
Charles Cane	Harris
Kippee Valez	Singer

Technical Credits

Boris Ingster	Director
Maurice King	Producer,Producer

Editorial Reviews

Southside 1-1000 is a good pseudo-noir film told in pseudodocumentary fashion, but it also must register as a bit of a disappointment. It's functional and all the parts fit together smoothly, making it run like a fairly well-oiled machine -- but it lacks real spark. Given director Boris Ingster's impressive work on the seminal The Stranger on the Third Floor, one expects something a bit more unusual or off the beaten path -- or at least distinctive. Instead, Southside looks like it could have been the work of any competent director. Not that there aren't rewards to the picture. Russell Harlan's cinematography is appropriately moody, capturing all of the plot elements and sticking to Ingster's quick pacing but still managing to find the time to linger for a moment on a subject and create slight discomfort. Andrea King is a delightfully heartless femme fatale, especially when she's allowed to really let loose and show her claws. And the screenplay does have a couple of twists, plus a nifty ending sequence, that capture the viewer's attention. Don DeFore may not be in the league of Humphrey Bogart, but he's a solid enough anchor. But Southside also is the victim of its times, with an anti-Communist message that is rather simplistic, and a voice-over that is often annoying. The workmanlike story also becomes rather mechanical after awhile, and the dialogue falls short of the mark on occasion. Despite its flaws, Southside is worth watching -- though many will watch it and appreciate it more for what it might have been than for what it is.

All Movie Guide - Craig Butler