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The Miami Story (1954) is a Kefauver hearings inspired city-titled Florida noir tale of mobsters, massive hidden television cameras, an informant and murder suspect who come out of hiding to boss the police about, and roving cameras which film the streets of Miami as automobiles carry mooks, thugs and suspects from location to location.
The Miami Story (1954) is a delight of cheap and effective film noir from the most unconvincing period of the style, when black and white denoted cost-savings and often meant that the stock and trade shadows of noir were consigned to the cutting room floor, in order to create a brighter and whiter screen of action, better suited to the television.
The story is there, of course there is a story to this film noir, there is no noir that has no story. But at times it is acceptable to ignore the tradition of narrative and watch instead the collating and collision of images, as a world is built up and investigated, as social trends become movie trends, and the falsifying power of the camera is used to create an audio visual emotional experience as much as a moral telling of a tale.
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| The Miami Story (1954) |
In this The Miami Story (1954) is not a specifically different film noir, but it is yet a style of presentation that makes Americana of itself by reinforcing clothes, talk and automobiles.
As in some other quick n eazy noirs, a voiceover appears for brevity and laziness reasons in The Miami Story (1954), quite suddenly around the 43 minute mark. The logic of these voiceovers is great and testament to the solid foundations of noir storytelling. If in doubt, include a voiceover which will not even be so much as noticed.
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| Desk to camera in The Miami Story (1954) |
There are some great film noirs that were released in 1954, indicative not of a dying style, but of something strong that is somehow more specific than ever, focusing on urban crime and less on personal fateful and weirdly weakened takes on the interior lives of various low class heels.
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Some of the best or most representative noirs of 1954 might include:
- Crime Wave
- Human Desire
- Suddenly
- Pushover
- Cry Vengeance
- Private Hell 36
- Rogue Cop
- Naked Alibi
- Loophole
- Drive a Crooked Road
These are largely urban and ensemble pieces, often about the failure of law enforcement. There are no especially weird tales included, as the weirdness of the 1940s did dissolve away in the sunlight of these larger screens and in the extended cop-shoppery that characterises the 1950s, with its new large vehicles and properly developed cities.
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| Luther Adler in The Miami Story (1954) |
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Instead this romance and marriage between Holly and Mick, Adele Jurgens and Barry Sullivan, is just stitched in there and explained with a voiceover, taking all of about three seconds of screen time.
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| Barry Sullivan in The Miami Story (1954) |
The Miami Story thus depicts a scenario where organized crime lords, fearing the power of the Kefauver Committee, escape across the country, eventually settling in sunny Miami, Florida. Here, the city’s “tough, honest police force” struggles to combat these criminal outsiders.
The story focuses on Miami-based mob kingpin Tony Brill, portrayed by Luther Adler, who heads the seemingly innocuous R & L Corporation, a front for his vast criminal empire. Brill’s influence stretches from Miami to Detroit, fuelled by his loyal associates: Gwen Abbott, a beautiful but battered assistant played by Adele Jergens, and Ted Delacorte, a handsome, psychopathic killer portrayed by John Baer, who is also Brill’s college-educated heir apparent.
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The film paints a picture of a city under siege by a well-organized criminal network, highlighting the challenges of law enforcement in battling such entrenched corruption. The cities of the 1950s were corporate and so was the crime.
It makes of The Miami Story (1954) a brisk, no-nonsense later noir that delves into the rise of organized crime in Miami and Dade County, attributed to the post-World War II population boom that outpaced the growth of the local police force.
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| Barry Sullivan lights up in The Miami Story (1954) |
Adler, known for his portrayal of smart, ruthless criminals, excels as Brill, who is not easily fooled. His top enforcer, played by John Baer, is a trigger-happy killer who enjoys his work. Beverly Garland and Adele Jergens portray sisters on opposite sides of the law—Garland as an entertainer who falls for Sullivan, and Jergens as a tough member of Brill’s team, managing the vice and prostitution rings. Jergens shines in what could be her career-defining role.
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The Miami Story (1954) is part of a wave of crime thrillers inspired by the Kefauver Senate hearings on organized crime, each film focusing on the supposed crime wave in a specific city and its eventual downfall. These films often featured an elected official at the beginning, offering a veneer of legitimacy with a solemn introduction.
In The Miami Story, Senator George Smathers of Florida introduces the film, assuring viewers that crime has been virtually eradicated in Miami — an ironic claim given the city's notorious history with figures like Santos Trafficante. But this is politics, and it is also a prime example of one of film noir's more unwelcomes and curious corporate additions as the 1950s bloomed into the CIA-driven future from hell that kicked of the 1960s with presidential murder. We talk of course of the infamous protocols of desk-to-camera.
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One particularly absurd sequence involves Flagg directing the cops to install a massive TV camera in crime boss Tony Brill's office at the Biscayne Club. The camera, hidden in an air conditioning shaft, miraculously captures clear, medium-shot footage with perfect audio, despite no visible microphone or logical placement of the equipment. The film’s portrayal of high-tech surveillance is wildly unrealistic, with no thought given to the bulky technology of the time or the inevitable suspicion it would raise.
Despite its implausibilities and complete avoidance of the word "mafia," the film manages to entertain, thanks to its tidy and no nonsense75-minute runtime and a strong cast. It also seems reminiscent of another of the informally created city noir series, The Houston Story (1956).
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Directed by Fred F. Sears, the film doesn’t slow down long enough for audiences to question its logic, maintaining a quick pace that keeps viewers engaged. Sears, along with producer Sam Katzman and writer Robert E. Kent, would later collaborate on Miami Exposé (1956), a similarly themed but less successful film with weaker casting and an even more implausible plot.
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| The Miami Story (1954) |
The Miami Story might not be a masterpiece of noir, but it is a masterpiece of something, even if it is a masterpiece of cinema in decline, with its large motor cars and quick and easy scenes of confrontation and thrills, but it delivers enough action and exploitation entertainment to satisfy fans of B-movie crime drama. The main of that exploitation is presented as violence against the women characters.
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The film recycles a well-worn gangster plot from the 1930s, updated to contemporary Florida. A group of five Miami civic leaders, desperate to bring down crime boss Tony Brill and his front company, R&L Industries, enlists ex-gangster Mick Flagg, who had been framed for murder by Brill and now lives incognito on a farm in Indiana.
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| Spy cameras of 1954 in The Miami Story (1954) |
This character, Flagg, with a personal vendetta and a free hand, quickly sets up a fake rival operation with supposed Cuban backing, aiming to intimidate Brill. Flagg’s actions, from ordering the police chief around to shutting down the Biscayne Club, give the film its brisk, no-nonsense pace, though the plot itself remains a retread of familiar tropes.
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In that short and uneasy desk-to-camera segment, U.S. Senator George Smathers introduced the film, likely seeking to align himself with the Kefauver Committee's anti-crime crusade. At the time, Smathers was halfway through his first Senate term and saw no downside in associating himself with the film’s promotion, perhaps hoping for some Kefauver-type publicity.
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This seventy-five-minute thriller, though clearly made on a tight budget and padded with too much stock footage, is entertaining but lacks the depth and artistry of better films in the genre. The action is punchy and the tough-guy dialogue amusing, making it a decent, if unremarkable, watch.
Luther Adler's energetic performance stands out, while Adele Jergens and Beverly Garland are solid, and Barry Sullivan makes for a serviceable, though not exceptional, hero. Lili St. Cyr, a famous stripper, also appears in a small role. The story leans heavily on flag-waving patriotism and anti-Cuban sentiment, marking it as a product of its time.
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Director Fred F. Sears keeps the pace brisk, that is what they say, brisk, as it is a brisk noir, as so many of them are, brisk is pretty baseline if you've not got the best materials to work with otherwise, though the film feels more like a traditional gangster flick than a true noir. Overall, it's a fun, throwaway programmer rather than a standout classic, although as a standout classic of 1950s noir mediocrity, it may well be a classic.
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The Miami Story (1954)
Directed by Fred F. Sears
Genres - Crime, Drama, Thriller | Release Date - May 3, 1954 | Run Time - 75 min.
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