Entirely Irrelevant: “The Killer That Stalked New York”

(Trailer for “The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot)

(Trailer for “The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot)

(Trailer for “The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot)

(Trailer for “The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot)

(Trailer for “The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot)

(Trailer for “The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot)

(Trailer for “The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot)

(“The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot)

(“The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot. Similar introduction to “The Naked City.”)

(“The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot. Deserted Times Square.)

(“The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot)

(“The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot)

(“The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot. Spoiler alert: portrait photographer helps solve the crime; nice camera in background.)

(“The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot)

(“The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshot)

Entirely irrelevant to the focus of this blog… but shockingly relevant to real life, New York now…

(“The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshots)

“The Killer That Stalked New York” (1950) maybe it’s not the best movie ever made… But there’s something for everyone: Vaccinations! Press cameras! Hand washing! Cool science photos! And there’s “shot-on-the-spot realism!”

(“The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshots. Even the mayor gets vaccinated.)

(“The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshots… 20 seconds forever…)

(“The Killer That Stalked New York” screenshots… Yes! It’s…)

“The Killer That Stalked New York”

‘Killer That Stalked New York,’ About a Diamond Smuggler, Opens at Palace Theatre

By Bosley Crowther

January 5, 1951

An interesting complicating factor is introduced into a routine hunt for a pretty young diamond smuggler in Columbia’s “The Killer That Stalked New York.” This factor is merely that the lady has smallpox, which she has brought into the country along with the gems, and, without knowing what she has, she is spreading it while remaining a fugitive in New York.The peril, of course, is obvious—as it literally was a few years ago when an actual smallpox carrier brought the dread disease to this city. And it is in a pictorial demonstration of the scope and the health problem of this peril that the one virtue of this picture, now at the Palace, resides.By bringing his cameras to New York and filming realistic hospital scenes, mass vaccinations and local details. Director Earl McEvoy has achieved a respectable simulation of the anxiety of a community when confronted with a possible plague. And he has managed to get some fascination into the desperate devices by which the health authorities, headed by a young physician, attempt to pinpoint the fatal carrier.But, unfortunately, the script of Harry Essex, based on a factual magazine piece, has a bad tendency to ramble and to confuse two separate hunts. And the performances of the principal characters, while adequate, have little punch. Evelyn Keyes, as the fugitive smallpox carrier, manifests great discomfort and distress, but she is no more than a melodramatic cipher in a loosely organized “chase.” William Bishop is blankly youthful as the physician and Charles Korvin is conventional as the lady’s no-good husband who tries to give her the brush. Others are moderately effective in a potentially but not sufficiently intriguing film.