A kind of low budget combination of Jules Dassin’s The Naked City and William Wyler’s Detective Story, Arnold Laven’s Vice Squad offers an entertaining West Coast twist to the police work shown in the New York police stations of those other two famous films. While the Production Code of the day kept things reasonably tame for all viewers, Vice Squad still offers a rich cross section of police types working a twenty-four hour shift on a typical day in the L.A. Vice Squad Bureau.
Vice Squad (1953) [MGM MOD]
Directed by Arnold Laven
Studio: MGM/UA
Year: 1953
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 88 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 mono English
Subtitles: none
MSRP: $ 19.98
Release Date: available now
Review Date: February 13, 2012
The Film
3.5/5
What starts out as an assumed car theft which results in the shooting of a police officer turns into a much more involved crime investigation as Captain of the Vice Squad “Barnie” Barnaby (Edward G. Robinson) pulls in favors from a local madam (Paulette Goddard) and tries every trick in the book to get an uncooperative witness Jack Hartrampf (Porter Hall) to spill what he knows. Along the way, the real crime – a bank robbery – gains momentum and is executed, and Barnaby contends with mentally ill neighborhood informants, a kidnapping of a bank employee (Mary Ellen Kay), and manipulating one of the robbers (Adam Williams) who bailed at the last minute into providing information about his cohorts.
The screenplay by Lawrence Roman (based on the novel by Leslie T. White) crowds a great deal of activity into a single day of police work, but the compactness of the script gives this docudrama style of filmmaking a very real feel, aided by Arnold Laven’s meat-and-potatoes style direction. There is one rather stylish sequence as the kidnapped Carol distracts the crooks’ head man Al (Edward Binns) long enough to effect a getaway through a shadowy multi-story warehouse which forms the basis of the climactic moments of the picture. Elsewhere, the running gag with Barnaby finding ways to detain the sniveling Hartrampf adds lightness to the otherwise bleak squad room. We see old school suspect line-ups (no one-way glass here) and a decidedly low tech heist at the bank that goes sour. But all of that adds to the genuine period flavor of the piece and makes for an entertaining contrast to today’s very slick and savvy procedurals.
Edward G, Robinson does his usual immaculate job as the quick-on-his-feet captain who eats, sleeps, and breathes police work. Paulette Goddard, despite second billing, has only a couple of scenes as the glamorous madam Mona Ross (head of an “escort service” in the film, but we all understand that’s a euphemism), but she twinkles in her old style swaddled in mink and a very tight skirt. As the two primary thugs, Edward Binns plays it close to the vest while the very young Lee Van Cleef says little but still exudes that inward volatile personality that was his trademark. Porter Hall is appropriately flustered as the married man caught with his mistress while Barry Kelley as his slick lawyer lets his frustration and aggravation build accordingly. Adam Williams as the crook who ditches the plan at the last minute and Mary Ellen Kay as the kidnapped bank employee play their respective parts with confidence.
Video Quality
3.5/5
The film has been framed at 1.33:1. This transfer is surprisingly clear of age-related damage and overall looks very nice. Grayscale is certainly respectable and might have been even more so with stronger black levels. Being an interlaced transfer, there is some aliasing with tight line structures and some jitter along the way, but there is nothing too distracting, and the lack of splices, scratches, and reel change markers is welcome. The film has been divided into chapters every ten minutes so there are 9 chapters present.
Audio Quality
3.5/5
The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sound mix is decoded by Dolby Prologic into the center channel. There is some minor hiss on the soundtrack and some occasional bumps and some distortion in the music when the volume increases during the film’s climactic passages. But the dialogue is always discernible, and the music and sound effects are never overpowering.
Special Features
0/5
There are no bonus materials with this made-on-demand disc.
In Conclusion
3.5/5 (not an average)
Edward G. Robinson leads a strong cast in the largely forgotten police procedural melodrama Vice Squad. The MGM MOD release looks very good and sounds fine for a film of its vintage and moderate budget.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
