i wonder what audience of the day think when first lay eye on walter jack palance ( blackie ) . certainly he look like no one else of the time and that skull like face and flatten nose and and elongate body even now he remain an unsettling presence . and what could be more appropriate than his emergence out of those dingy new orleans slum that appear to fester like the plague blackie be loose on the city . i be just sorry he do not have more scene . the movie itself be very skillfully assembled the morgue black humor and the widmark douglas interplay and the un touristy location and the battle among officialsall be weave into a tensely realistic thriller with a menace unlike others of the time . even widmark domestic scene that put a woman ( bel geddes ) on the marquee manage not to be too disruptive . director kazan certainly show his aptitude for helm a studio ( fox ) product and no matter how he may have felt about the commercial aspect . widmark do a solid low key job a the public health officer . but my money be on the one and only zero mostel . be there ever a sweatier performer who could squeal loud or get push around more than the bulky fall guy ( e. g. the enforcer and 1950 ) . that scene with mostel and where palance argue with mostel shrewish wife ( liswood ) and be a gem of frantic subservience a mostel try to pacify each like some berserk pinball . too bad he lose so many year to the blacklist . ( i wonder if it be the voluble kazan who name him . ) but it not only the professional that add color . the local add both character and authenticity and especially the two asian guy interview by the cop . that whole scene have an improvise air and a if kazan recognize their potential and fashion a nifty little scene on the spot . then too and that colorful hire hall with all the deck hand be pure inspiration . and what about those flea bite coffee shop that have me run to the near denny . anyway and the movie be still a well stag and rivet thriller with an apocalyptic air that oddly foreshadow many of today mega hit .