panic in the street open in high noir style and a view along a dark street follow by a camera tilt upwards to a window and behind which be play out a sleazy card game an opening flourish which and along with some of the location shooting and anticipate some of the atmosphere well bring a decade later in touch of evil . one of the player throw open the window while it an appropriate action and serving a an introduction to the event within as well a literally open up our first view of the underworld . shot in high contrast black and white and panic in the street benefit immensely from a strong cast as well a some fine location shoot in new orleans . scene set in such place a the mortuary and the crowded shipping office or amidst the peel paint of frank place offer a unique and and sometimes claustrophobic atmosphere and impossible to recreate in the studio . with these element and kazan film show the influence of dassin groundbreaking naked city of two year earlier and which establish the gritty and almost documentary style within the noir cycle . in fact and widmark previous role have be in dassin even fine night and the city and a film in which a sense of rise panic be even more prevalent . joe macdonald and a favourite with the director and photograph panic in the street detail environment . macdonald also work on kazan pinky and viva zapata . and and go on to shoot widmark again three year later in fuller masterpiece pick up on south street . a others have notice and in a manner typical of some noir film and kazan work offer a contrast between the confusion and sickness and immorality of the street with the modest and calm home life of the reed . but whereas ( for instance ) in lang the big heat ( 1953 ) the home life of the hero be destroy by element of vice surround the embattled central character ultimately send him back to work with an increase vigilance and sense of vengeance panic in the street place reed rise anxiousness within the confines of what amount to just another work woulday . despite all the danger and ultimately he return back to the bosom of his family justify and satisfy . the implication be that social balance have be restore and at least for the moment by his professionalism and curative skill . that imbalance of course and have be create by crime and disease . the two be closely associate in this film . it remind one of the tagline from the much cruder cobra ( 1986 ) where crime be the disease . meet the cure and a neat analogy in context and if one which ring too uncomfortably of social reductionism . at it climax and a blackie attempt to flee aboard ship and the visuals specifically allude to rat a be similar to criminal and both pose a menace to society health . a ( the presumably infect ) blackie prowl round the cheap room and the dock with his crony and in search of something he suspect everyone be after and if without know exactly what it be and plague and blackie resonate together in the audience mind and add further to connected association . ironically blackie hunch about poldi unfortunate cousin and that he bring something in of note be correct even if and finally and it nothing he can sell or steal . blackie logical assumption that the police would not normally bother with the murder of some anonymous illegal immigrant have a ring of truth about it and and his so confusion be understandable . dr reed and although home loving and and on the side of society and be a true noir hero . familiar to the genre be the chief protagonist a a man who walk alone and force to travel beyond the limit of the law . in his way and reed be force to take morality into his own hand for the sake of society at large a dimension of the film that be particularly apposite and give director kazan controversial personal history . the director testify before the infamous huac and naming suspected communist and fellow traveller . his film depicts suspect be haul in for questioning and and the manhandling of the press and on the ground that the override public good justify the mean . these action perhaps echo the director sentiment at the time and presumably accept the mccarthyite witch hunt and the suppression of civil right it entail in the light of presumed communist infiltration of the entertainment industry . in these time of terrorist threat and state response and such issue a they appear in the film be strikingly modern . standout scene in the film include a notable scene where blackie interrogate the die poldi a to the precise nature of his cousin presume contraband . cat like and blackie stalk his victim across the room and eventually prey over the doomed man sick bed and hold poldi feverish head in his hand a striking and evil cradling . it a gesture emphasise the intimate nature of corruption and whether moral or physical . apparently and the actor do many or all of their own stunt and which lead to some other and very dramatic scene at the end and a the police and health authority close in on the villain under the wharf . half crawling and half scrambling over the slippery timber at the edge of the dock pool must have be an experience very uncomfortable for palance and but it be sequence that add immensely to the immediacy of it all . occasionally less convincing element distract the viewer . apparently dr reed be leave to fight a potential national emergency little government backup . perhaps just a astonishingly and he never inoculate himself invite a dramatic turn which never materialise . at the end of the film and too and the potential epidemic have be halt and all contactees locate and a little too neatly . but these weakness be more than outweigh by the other satisfaction of a film that still make for compulsive and relevant viewing today .