City of women

Cry of the City (1948) directed by Robert Siodmak, screenplay by Richard Murphy, Ben Hecht, based on a novel by Henry Edward Helseth. The men are the stars but the women are the night. We care for Richard Conte's Martin Rome and Victor Mature's Lt. Candella delivers justice but all the good and bad stuff – plot, motive, tone – is punched out by the female characters. Debra Paget's Teena Ricante is untouchable; Betty Garde's Miss Pruett has Hitchockian authority and gamesmanship. Mimi Aguglia as Mama Rome is the moral center – even Candella defers to her. Shelley Winters flashes her range as Brenda Martingale: she's detective and enabler. Hope Emerson as Rose Givens is the real tough: everyone's chasing Rome but Givens is the only one who gets her hands on him.