Cry Vengeance (1954)

Directed by Mark Stevens; produced by Lindsley Parsons

Former policeman Vic Barron (Mark Stevens) has good reason to be bitter and vindictive. His wife and child were killed - and he was disfigured - by a car-bomb planted by gangsters when he was coming too close to putting them away. Unsatisfied with that, they also framed him for crimes, resulting in a three-year prison sentence. Now freed, Barron’s one goal is to find the man responsible for his family’s murder and to do the same to him.

In a genre of dark and single-minded characters, Vic Barron is one of the darkest, at least for much of the film. His obsession with vengeance even leads him to consider killing his enemy’s child, as his own was killed. It’s a good character to play, and Stevens brings Barron’s narrow world to the screen convincingly. There really isn’t anything for him but revenge. As for what happens afterward? It isn’t mentioned because it doesn’t matter.

Also well-performed is the gangsters' hatchet-man, Roxey Davis, played by Skip Homeier, whose distinctive appearance adds to his acting to make Roxey a memorably menacing villain. More could have been made of the fact that Barron and Davis are two sides of the same coin, but even so, the pair make good adversaries.

The characters are, I think, a product of the writing, more than the acting - though Homeier is very good - which also folds into the plot the notion that the man Barron is hunting may not be the one he should be hunting. There are different layers of villainy, and Barron’s quarry comes across as almost sympathetic.

Cry Vengeance is aided greatly by the setting. Filmed in Ketchikan, Alaska, the town and the countryside surrounding it are used to good advantage. They provide a radically different backdrop to most film noir, which usually take place in bleaker environments, a grimy city or a dusty desert. Director Stevens uses the locale well, both in its unusual topography and its relative isolation.

On the subject of direction, Stevens does a good job. Though he probably wouldn’t have risen above the B-movies in which he often acted, there are some entertaining scenes, and an exciting chase sequence. As noted above, Stevens chose wisely in selecting his locations.

A largely unknown production, Cry Vengeance benefits from an above-par story, a stand-out villain and a deliberately one-dimensional protagonist.