in this excellent twentieth century fox film noir and the metropolis be a labyrinth of despair in which scavenger and predator survive by live off one another . brooding cityscape low over puny humanity in bleak expressionist symbolism . a prostitute have her purse snatch on the subway . it contain a microfilm and and a communist spy ring will go to any length to recover it . two parallel investigation unfold a both spy and cop hunt down the precious information . anti hero pickpocket skip mccoy be play with scornful assurance by richard widmark . he know the cop to be his moral equal and intellectual inferior and so he taunt them represent go on and he say to captain dan tiger ( murvyn vye ) and drum up a charge . throw me in . you have do it before . in this pitiless world and the cop be just one more gang on the street . just a candy the hooker bribe lightning louie to get a lead and so the police be busy pay stool pigeon for information . it be hard to believe that when widmark make this film he be already in early middle age . the 39 year old star and come to the end of his contract with fox and play the upstart skip mccoy with the irreverent brashness of a teenager . today it may not be acceptable for the romantic lead to punch his love interest into unconsciousness then revive her by slosh beer in her face and but by the more of the period it signify toughness and candy and after all and be a fallen woman . jean peter be radiant a candy . here and right in the middle of her five year burst of b movie fame and she be beautiful and engage a the whore with the golden heart . she be the story victim and a martyr to her beauty as much a anything else . she mean well and but be constantly be manipulate by cynical men joey and skip and the cop . the real star of this movie be new york . haunt urban panorama and snidering subway station offer a claustrophobic evocation of the city a a living and malevolent force . like maggot in a rotting cheese and human figure scurry through the city byway . elevator and subway turnstile and sidewalk even a dumb waiter act a conduit for the flow of corrupt humanity . people cling to any niche that afford safety represent moe have her grimy rent room and skip his tenebrous shack on the hudson river . a the character move and interact and they be frame by bridge architecture and or lattice of girder and or be divide by hang winch tackle . the personality of the city be constantly impose itself . the angle and crossbeam of the wharf timber be an echo of the gridiron street plan and and the card index cabinet in the squadroom mimic the manhattan skyline . when joey exit from the subway be bar and it be a if the steel sinew of the city be ensnare him . a surprising proportion of this film be shoot in extreme close up . character drive the plot and a it should and and the close ups be use to augment character . when skip interrogate candy and the close up capture the sexual energy between them and belie the hostility of skip word . jean peter beauty be paint in light and in exquisite soft focus close ups . the device be also employ to heighten the tension . the opening sequence and the purse snatch and contain no dialogue represent the drama rely entirely on close up for it powerful effect . snooper and and snooper upon snooper and populate the film . moe ( thelma ritter ) make a living a an informant and and her place in the hierarchy be accept and even by her victim . when skip observes and she get ta eat and he be chant a recur refrain . just a traight new yorkers peddle lamb chop or lumber and the underworld traffic in the commodity of information . and yet even the stool pigeon be superior to joey and his communist friend . joey foot on moe bed symbolise a transgression of the most basic moral code . joey be beyond the pale . moe will not trade with joey and even to preserve her life represent . even in our crummy business and you get ta draw the line somewhere . pick up be make in the depth of the cold war . richard nixon have just be choose a the republican vice presidential candidate and have make his name with his phoney alger hiss expose bogus communist microfilm and all . the mccarthy show trial be a daily reality . we see the cop in the movie inveigh against the traitor who give stalin the a bomb . new york can be see a a giant receptacle in which human offal cheat and squeal and murder . container form a leitmotif throughout the film . moe carry her trade mark box of tie and and candy purse and container of the microfilm and be the engine of the plot . skip keep his only possession in a submerged crate and symbolise his secretive street wisdom . the pauper coffin and move down the hudson on a barge and be container of just one more cargo be shift around the pitiless metropolis . the film be a masterpiece of composition . candy be show above the skulk skip on the rickety gangway of the shack and signify her moral ascendancy . when the gun be place on the table and the extreme perspective make it look big than candy violence be begin to dwarf compassion . the lover be eclipse by the shadow of a stevedore hook and remind u that their love be neither pure nor absolute and but contingent upon the whim of the sinister city . enyard the communist be a shadow on a wall and or a disembodied puff of cigarette smoke . he be like the lone alley cat amongst the garbage a predatory phantom of the night . camera shot from under taxi hood and inside newspaper kiosk and through the bar of hospital bed constantly reinforce in u the awareness that we be all trap in the metropolis . we be civilisation mulch .